


Will You Walk Into My Parlor

by fabricdragon



Series: A Twisted Skein [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Asperger Syndrome, Autism, BAMF Clint Barton, BDSM, Canon-Typical Violence, Cat Ears, Complicated Relationships, Cross-Generation Relationship, Dom Loki, Dom/sub, Dubious Consent, Dubious Morality, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Fannish Knitting, Furry, Humor, Hydra (Marvel), It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Knitting, M/M, Manipulation, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Character, Past Relationship(s), Past Torture, Politics, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sub Tony, Telepathy, Tony Being Tony, Transgender
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-07 22:21:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 71
Words: 105,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5472677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The continuation of my story from "Someone had to Say It".  </p><p>A Canon divergent AU that assumes Loki escaped fairly soon after being taken to Asgard at the end of Avengers 2012.<br/>This is a psychologically driven work, with a lot of references to previous trauma in most of the characters. References to bad decisions, and current traumatic issues, as well as unsafe practices, will be common. While it is humorous in part; I am working with some pretty dark subjects on occasion. There is also a lot of knitting. Reader discretion is advised.</p><p>Updates 3x a week, more often if possible.<br/>Please read  "Reading List and Resources" for world specific background information (Note occasional spoiler warnings)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Synopsis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's POV  
> Tony muses, and worries, (mostly about stuff that happened in "Someone Had to Say it" ) on the limo drive to the Hellfire Club.

Tony got into his limo, head spinning, and body on fire. A part of him was still screaming in the back of his mind that it wasn’t too late to back out… and the other part of him was purring happily that he was finally going to do it. He’d been living a lie his whole life-lies, actually; lots of them. He wasn’t sure he was ready to give this one up, but it felt like his original ARC reactor: saving his life and poisoning him at the same time.

He knew what everyone thought of him: genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist; God knows he, and his PR team, had worked hard enough to be sure everyone knew it.

He knew what everyone called him-had called him: Howard-fucking -Stark’s son, Merchant of Death, Iron Man, Avenger.

Just labels to hide behind, really. Show up in public with a few fawning calendar models, get high and grope a few pretty people of indeterminate gender at the right clubs, and the paparazzi were happy. Tony Stark was the flashy, capitalist dream lifestyle icon: rich, dominant, happy. _Lies… well, except the rich part, but money really couldn’t buy what mattered._ Tony rubbed absently at his ARC reactor and tried not to think of Obie.

Tony looked down at the bracelets peeking out from under the 18th century costume he was wearing and thumbed the biometric plate: seamless looking bands of gold, just something to call the suit… if one of them didn’t still have the connector ring on it. It would take way more than human strength to detach that little ring from the cuff, but it would fall right off with the right thumbprint on the switch and a twist. That had been the part that took the most work- being able to add connection points to the collar and cuffs without interfering with his suit. All three of them- collar and wrist cuffs- could be plain gold, or with a touch, have a colored band around the center.

Red, because he was Iron Man and red was awesome; or green, because he was Loki’s.

Loki had told him that no one was worthy to make a collar for him, other than himself. Sometimes-most of the time- Loki seemed to have a higher opinion of Tony than Tony did.

But the collar and cuffs did turn out awesome.

He glanced next to him at Loki. Loki looked insanely good in those clothes. He’d sent Loki to get dressed with the Hellfire Club’s preferred costume, not just any outfit; after all, Tony wasn’t just taking an escort to the club’s masque tonight: he was introducing a potential new member, and the man he was wearing a collar for. Tony scrubbed his palm on his pants and tried to pretend he wasn’t nervous.

Nothing to be nervous about, right?

Just having Loki find out about his knife play fetish, and the fact that Loki turned out to be the perfect crazy dangerous dom to his adrenaline and endorphin junkie sub.

Just almost dying of alcohol withdrawal, and having Loki save his life by bonding them magically.

Just finding out that was the best thing ever.

Just finding out that, yeah, Tony’s suspicions were right: Loki hadn’t been in charge of the invasion.

Just finding out that Hydra still existed; that they were in S.H.I.E.L.D.; that they’d been in from the beginning; that you were in a war that started before you were born; and that you only found out about now.

Just getting told that the scepter Loki had used was a link to the Chitauri’s real masters, and they had to get it to safekeeping -someplace like Asgard- without anyone who had been under its effects touching it. Thanks to the bond with Loki, that had to include Tony now.

Just… everything.

Tony noticed the proportion of expensive cars increasing; yeah, they were almost at the club.

Tony remembered Loki holding him effortlessly, reminding him that the Hellfire Club had soundproofed rooms- they had soundproofed dungeons, if needed, but Loki only knew what he’d told him. They would be out of reach of Jarvis; the club had firm rules about any potential eavesdropping. He could call the suit, of course, with his new collar and cuffs, even if he was strapped to the bed with them. Tony got lost in his own head thinking about Loki, and knives, and the bedrooms at the club.

He remembered the first time: Loki had outsmarted him- and that was so damned hot; tricked him into giving away too much; forced him down and gagged him so he couldn’t tell Jarvis to call for help; and then just whispered promises and threats in his ear until he broke. He’d made him come just talking to him-knew that Tony would have to find out if Loki could follow through on his promises: he could; he did.

“I am going to carve my name on your skin… I will draw runes of binding on you in your own blood… You will be utterly mine… But before that… I will make you beg,” Loki had whispered in his ear.

Beg? As much as he didn’t LIKE begging, Loki could reduce him to incoherent whines and pleas in minutes.

Runes of binding? Well, he was still alive, wasn’t he? And the touch telepathy was a nice addition, even if Loki had way more control over it than he did. Tony smirked as he remembered how easily Loki could tell his condition, even if he was gagged.

Utterly his? He’d tried to fight it, but to be bluntly honest the green-eyed asshole had him at “carve my name into your skin”.

Which was the only part he hadn’t done.

And he’d said I might be able to earn that, tonight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are notes in this series including a whole chapter of what information is available about the Hellfire Club.  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/5045194


	2. The Hellfire Club: Making an entrance -Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's POV.  
> A reminder that both of the potential POV characters are somewhat unreliable narrators... or at least, biased.

Loki sat in the limousine without comment for most of the drive. He deliberately kept his thoughts to himself and away from Anthony. Anthony, meanwhile, was off balance, angry, practically vibrating with lust, and hard as a rock: in other words, perfect. Loki didn’t need the bond to tell that Anthony was debating whether it was REALLY a good idea to tell any more people about their relationship.

From what Loki had managed to find out about the Hellfire Club, however, this was one of the few places that he really wanted to be. His Anthony was a member? Then there were only two options: to become a member himself, with no public association with Anthony; or to be a member as Anthony’s partner. If they were fool enough to discount his dear genius over how the two of them played? Then best to find that out soon, so he would know they weren’t worth allying with.

“We’re almost there,” Anthony said as he slipped on his mask.

Anthony was wearing a simple white leather mask, with black patterns on it. It covered the top half of his face, so he was quite easily recognizable. He had purchased a mask for Loki as well, a lovely one that exactly matched his, but color reversed. Loki pulled his own out instead.

“That’s… not...” Anthony stuttered as he saw Loki pull it on.

“The one you purchased? No.” He knew that Anthony had worn his mask before. _I will not show up for the first time at your club wearing a mirror of your mask._ Loki sighed, “Anthony, I know you mean well, but first impressions count for a great deal.”

They would be going to Anthony’s contacts, in Anthony’s club; Loki was a guest, there at Anthony’s sufferance for now. Loki smirked. _You should have expected my response, gæludýr minn; I’ll not walk into your territory at a disadvantage._

“You look better in this style than I ever will.” Anthony grinned, “And yeah, your mask suits you.”

He’d seen it in the shop he had been sent to, unfinished, and purchased it over the owner’s objections. He’d finished it himself. It was a leather half mask, covering the right side of his face like a crescent moon, with tendrils snaking around to the left. Minor adjustments sufficed for it to fit as if it was custom molded to him. After the work Loki had put into it, it was a deep green, edging to black, with black crystals decorating it.

“There will be paparazzi outside, trying to find out who goes in. Anyone who wants to be public has the driver drop them off out front at the portico and walks in, so they get some ‘glimpsed through the gate’ type photos.” Anthony shrugged, “The rest of us pull into the private garage and get dropped off at the side entrance. No photos.”

“Do you ever go in the front?”

“Yeah, sometimes. Mostly for public parties, charity events, stuff like that. Once when I was escorting a fellow sufferer.”

“A what?” Loki asked; his Anthony probably thought it made sense.

“A girl– another media kid– her family had pretty firm ideas of what was acceptable for her.”

Loki looked thoughtful, “And you wished to scandalize them?”

“No, she needed to pretend to be a shallow– and heterosexual – socialite, and I needed a publicly gorgeous girl on my arm that wouldn’t care that I wasn’t at the party with HER.”

“Ah! That I understand.” _Politics; the accursed thing never changes._ As much as he hated Sif, he could sympathize that her family would have preferred a more typical daughter.

“She… may be here. Just so you know.” Anthony glanced over at him. “Remember, the main ballroom isn’t members only. There are lots of prospective members and guests there, so –“

“So it isn’t secure, and you will be on your public behavior for the first part of the evening.” Loki smiled and patted Anthony’s knee. “Luckily, you are known to be bisexual, and I am obviously just another male model or rock star, yes?”

Anthony grinned, “You have to be a rock star- way too much presence for anything else.”

They pulled past the gates, and around the side of the building into a sheltered garage. Loki watched a woman in furs and a white dress exit the car in front of them. She was followed by a woman dressed in what appeared to be a white cat costume.

“That’s Henry– last I heard he preferred Lulu in the club, I should check– and the cat is… I actually never looked up her real name; we call her ‘Fluffy’,” Anthony commented. “Since it’s a masque, they can come in their usual outfits and blow it off as a costume.”

 _Henry? A man? I would have sworn…_ Then they were exiting the car and being escorted into the club.

Anthony signed them into the guest book ‘Tony Stark and guest’, then he put a small squiggle next to the ‘and guest’.

The underdressed woman manning the check in desk raised an eyebrow and murmured, “I’ll let them know, sir.”

Anthony was directing them down a wide corridor toward the public party when Loki saw a white haired woman in a white fluffy bodysuit, complete with tail, and a pair of actively swiveling ears… and yes, up the other end of the leash was ‘Henry’.

Anthony stopped to fidget, probably trying to decide how much to show, to whom, so Loki decided he may as well get his questioned answered.

“Excuse me, but Anthony pointed you out on the way in…” Loki moved over to the figure in the white dress. Even close up it was difficult to tell this was a man; the appearance was expertly crafted.

“Anthony?” The voice was pitched just a trifle artificially high.

“Tony Stark. Anthony,” Loki replied pleasantly. “Your car was just in front of ours; I saw you enter the club. Anthony identified you.” _And Anthony appears to have gotten distracted by some man wearing red face paint. Hmmm…_

The artificially long eyelashes dipped over a glare, and the companion kitty’s ears actually locked forward. “Oh? And how did _Stark_ identify me to you.”

Loki frowned– the man managed to make his last name sound insulting.

“He said your given name was Henry, he thought you preferred Lulu, and the cat woman’s name was Fluffy.” –Loki narrowed his eyes– “I had wanted to commend you on your make up skills, and inquire as to your pet’s ears.”

Fluffy’s ears started swiveling again. Loki realized they must be electronic, based on how they moved; his ears caught a faint noise of motors.

“Actually, I’m using Gloria…” Her voice sounding deeply suspicious.

“Gloria, then. Call me Eric for the moment.” Loki shrugged. “I hadn’t been aware there were electronic ears, nor ones that respond to emotion…”

Fluffy tilted her head, “Why not address me directly?”

Loki debated briefly and then turned and bowed politely to the cat person, “You pardon, miss, in the absence of an etiquette guide on the matter I addressed the human about their pet cat. One never approaches an actual pet without the owner’s permission; I presumed the same here.”

Fluffy giggled and looked up at Gloria. “I like him, and he sounds posh.”

“Stark is an asshole,” Gloria grumbled, not sounding very feminine at all for a moment.

“He can be,” Loki said slowly. “He isn’t always.” Loki noticed Anthony scanning the corridor for him, and tugged on the bond.

“You’re his escort for the evening?”

“No. I’m his escort.” Loki extended his arm and pulled Anthony into place. “Anthony, your friend informs me they are using Gloria, now.”

“Huh?” Anthony blinked a few times and refocused onto the lady and her cat, “Gloria… right… I’ll forget that too.” Then he smiled, “Fluffy! I brought a laser pointer…”

Loki sighed. _So much for adult behavior._ “NOT in the hallway, Anthony, and KINDLY ask the person attached to the leash before you encourage their pet to pull them off their heels!”

Anthony stopped and slowly stared up at him. For some reason all three of them seemed to be staring at him, as did a few nearby individuals.

“You… do… know…” Anthony cleared his throat, “That Fluffy isn’t a real cat… right?”

Loki frowned. _No wonder people had poor opinions of Anthony_. “Anthony…” he let a hint of a growl slip into his voice… and was pleased to see immediate submission in his posture, “If the lady wishes to be addressed as a cat, you address her as a CAT.” –he paused, and continued– “A bipedal, sentient cat.”

Gloria and Fluffy blinked at him, then looked at Anthony.

“Uh, Lo…”

“Eric.”

“Eric, I don’t think it works that way.”

Loki just smiled threateningly, “Do you address Gloria as she wishes to be?”

“Well of course!” Anthony looked stunned.

For some reason Gloria looked dismissive, “You keep calling me Henry.”

Anthony sighed, “That’s because you keep changing your name. I don’t remember names. You’ve kept Henry longer than any other name, and I can’t bring my PA here so no one is usually around to tell me what to CALL you.”

Gloria looked shocked. “You constantly mis-gender me and I-“

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Anthony grumbled, and then yelped because Loki twisted his arm behind his back casually.

“Anthony, DEAR…” Loki lowered his voice to a growl, “If you embarrass me any further I shall be QUITE upset.” There were seven people in this hallway, plus servants, and every single one of them was watching.

Fluffy said, quietly and distinctly, “Holy shit.”

Anthony bit back some choice retorts and winced from the arm twist, “I really am terribly sorry-“ he glanced at Loki and scrabbled at the bond for the woman’s name.

“Gloria,” Loki said pleasantly, and relaxed his grip a fraction.

“-Gloria, but its honestly not misgendering anyone. I don’t care what gender anyone is, I have a lousy memory for names, and I rely on my PA or my computer to tell me what to call ANYONE.”

Loki let Tony’s arm out from behind his back, but kept it trapped in his own. “I am afraid that’s true: he is terrible at names. It’s why he has so many nicknames for everyone.” Loki smiled politely, “In any event, I hope we can find someplace to play with the laser pointer that ISN’T in the middle of the hallway?”

Gloria and Fluffy were just staring back and forth between the two of them for some reason. Anthony seemed to be flushing, probably embarrassed over his bad behavior. Luckily, most of the others decided to go about their business.

Gloria finally cleared her throat and said, “Right. Well. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She glanced at Anthony. “Mr. Stark…”

“Yes?” Anthony sounded pained.

“Don’t lose this one.” Gloria nodded at Fluffy and walked off.

Anthony’s mouth dropped open as he stared after the two of them. “What?” he finally said.

“Gloria didn’t think very highly of you,” Loki frowned as they walked further toward the sounds of people.

“I had no idea it was a gender thing; I thought they just didn’t like me.”

“I expect that they are as touchy about their personal tastes, Anthony, as you are about yours. They likely assumed it MUST be about that.”

Anthony blinked. “No, I just think Fluffy is ok, and Henry“ –he corrected himself immediately when Loki tightened his grip on his jacket sleeve- “GLORIA is an uptight prick.”

Loki smiled as they came out into view of the party. Some things were the same no matter the world. The clothing was different, the room was different, but it was still a gathering of people of importance, information, politics, lies and intrigue. Loki felt instantly at home.

“My dear candid darling.” Loki looked down over the sea of people, picking out the ones of true power by the movements of the crowd. “The point is to never let them know you think that.”

Anthony winced and grumbled, “I know. I’m lousy at it.”

“Yes, minn sváss, you are; fortunately for you, I’m incredibly good at it. Now, introduce me to my new playthings, won’t you?”

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the first time, Tony is walking into a really familiar place, a place he has been 'on the prowl' and where he is among his PEERS (and people he wants to impress, for once)... with Loki. He is far more off balance than he thinks, and yes its making him defensive. Loki meanwhile is well aware that he's moving onto TONY's turf, and can't help but assert his position.  
> fun times.


	3. The Hellfire Club: Swimming with the Sharks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's POV in which he contemplates EXACTLY how wrong he was about hoow this was going to go, and Loki reassures him. for some value of reassures....

 

Tony had made a serious mistake. It was an understandable mistake, after all-when he thought of Asgard he still thought of straightforward and trusting Thor- but it was a big mistake. He’d thought he was taking his new… whatever Loki was–boyfriend, lover, fiancé?– to his favorite club. He’d thought that Loki would be insanely hot and decorative on his arm- and hotter and less civilized later in the bedrooms- while he handled all the socializing and business and politics.

Yeah, somehow he’d thought that.

He thought he would be able to keep the nature of his relationship with Loki a secret until the assorted outsiders and playthings were shaken off.

In hindsight, that was possibly the third dumbest idea he’d ever had.

Tony had been being decorative and attentive on Loki’s arm, while Loki charmed the socks off a congressman and his wife. He’d just finished being attentive and getting drinks for the state governor and his boyfriend, while Loki listened sympathetically to his annoyed snarls about S.H.I.E.L.D. and their lack of consideration for local authority. Now, he was trying to keep his temper from getting the best of him as he tracked the rumor mill across the ballroom.

“Somehow I thought the news that you were my dom would take a LITTLE bit more time to get going,” Tony muttered darkly.

Loki ran his hand up Tony’s back and pulled him just a touch closer. “Oh?” He was leaning up against the dark wood paneling, looking illegally good.

“Seems like there’s at least three chains of the telephone game running right now. Oh goody, someone just told Irene.” Tony watched the brunette look disbelieving at her friend, and then shoot a speculative look at Tony and Loki. “Aaaand now she’s watching us.”

“Who, darling, is Irene?”

“Probie club member, her dad is a member. I dated her-and by dated, I mean fucked her senseless against an ice sculpture at a Metropolitan new year’s party.”

Tony felt Loki’s hands tense, and looked up. Loki looked… intrigued. “Really?”

“Yeah, the press got hold of it. She… may have gotten the idea that I wanted a longer term arrangement with her.” Tony winced, “God, no.”

Loki just smiled that damned full on crazy lunatic smile.

Tony paled. “Lo- Eric… this is only marginally private…”

“No cameras, though.” Loki started walking slowly around him, like a fucking panther.

“No… I thought we agreed to wait until the casual guests left.” Tony noticed a number of the more powerful members of the club watching.

Loki leaned up against the wall, effectively pinning him in place. “We could.”

He leaned his head down, cutting the rest of the world off behind the black curtain of his hair. “Or you could say to hell with it, and stop trying to pretend to be something you’re not.”

Tony really wanted to laugh it off. He wanted to walk over and grab one of the available eye candy and have her up against the wall, because he was Tony Stark and he was… _desperately unhappy, and afraid to let people know that he was just so damned TIRED of being in charge all the time?_

He reached up and unpinned his cravat; this time it only took one try. “There is that…”

Loki pinned him up against the wall with a kiss that started filthy and went from there straight to the gutter.

Tony started to bring his hands up and stopped suddenly when Loki growled, “No.” Loki moved his mouth to Tony’s ear, “Keep your hands either to yourself, or against the wall, Stark.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding…” Tony swallowed, but forced his hands back down to his thighs.

Loki kept his weight on one arm against the wall, the other hand twisted into Tony’s hair. Loki tugged his head back and bared Tony’s throat-and collar- although it was partially blocked from view by Loki himself.

“Why hide?” Loki started sucking and tonguing Tony’s ear, while he pulled and twisted his hair.

“It’s… I mean… new people?” Tony was having a horrible time breathing, all the oxygen seemed to be leaving the room somehow. “Not as private…”

Loki bit along Tony’s jaw, just hard enough to be a turn-on, and nipped his way down Tony’s throat. “So?” he said between bites, “then they spread rumors.” –his tongue was lapping at the collar– “The club finds out,” –Tony’s hands were clenched at his sides hard enough to hurt– “and they get blacklisted.”

“…” Breathing seemed to be taking up a whole lot of Tony’s attention right now.

Loki pulled back and looked down into Tony’s eyes, “And it’s not like you haven’t played both sides, when it didn’t matter.”

“But it does…” Tony managed to whisper.

“The trick, my straightforward darling- as I said- is never to let them know that.” Loki pulled Tony’s head into a kiss again and murmured into his lips, “The very best way to lie…” –Loki sucked on Tony’s lower lip– “… _is to tell the truth, in such a way that they believe the opposite,”_ Loki’s voice continued in his mind.

Tony had no doubt that he looked completely wrecked. _I knew I had a publicity kink, but God DAMN…._

As Loki pulled back from that kiss, Tony moaned. He’d clenched his fists tight to his side– he wasn’t sure if he COULD move them anymore– and he desperately wanted to pull Loki back in for more.

“Why, Anthony… anyone would think you wanted me to continue…” Loki smirked down at him, his green eyes gleaming.

“You are an utter and complete bastard.” Tony tried to growl, although he was certain it came out as a desperate sort of panting.

“Yes.” Loki nodded, “And now you’re going to look past my shoulder and tell me who walked in, because the attention in the room shifted.”

“What?” Tony blinked a few times- _way to change the subject-“_ Oh… ok.” He glanced past Loki’s hair as Loki leaned back in, pretending to continue– where pretending meant: ‘not completely destroying Tony’s brain’.

 _Harry is here? Shit, when did Harry come in? And he’s talking to a couple of the power players over at the bar…. And looking this way._ Tony felt himself flush.

“You still have enough blood in your face to blush? Dear me, I must not be doing this right,” Loki purred, and went back to stealing all his air. Loki kissed the way the Young brothers played: he blew you away with his skills; he brought you to your knees; and he made it look easy.

He heard Loki’s question in his head, _“Who’s Harry?”_ Right, Loki must have gotten that out of his mind.

 _“It’s completely unfair you can still think that straight,.”_ Tony managed to think, on maybe the third try. _“Also, whoever called you SILVER tongued was slandering you… platinum at least, maybe Vibranium.”_

“Mmm hmmm…”

“Harry Leland. Club attorney…” Tony managed to use his voice. “One of the people we need to talk to.”

“Well then,” Loki said straightening up, and NOT giving Tony back his cravat. “Shall we go over and speak to him?”

Tony stared at the full length of the club ballroom, full of people and over to the raised bar.

“Why do I suddenly feel like I’m swimming across a supervillain’s pool full of sharks?”

“Because you are,” Loki said calmly. “You’re just realizing you aren’t as big a shark as you thought.”

Loki looped Tony’s cravat casually around Tony’s wrist and pulled his captured arm into his own.

“You’re still a shark, Anthony. I’m just a bigger one.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Friday is Xmas. AS A TREAT, every single one of my ready to update stories will update a chapter on Xmas. (yes even the weekly ones) I will also be posting a NEW story, not an Avengers fan fic, on Xmas.  
> As always, comments are my life. hugs!


	4. The Hellfire Club: Shall We Dance? –Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two new players enter the room. Choose a partner...

 

Loki escorted his Anthony through the party. He was taking his time, letting Anthony adjust and observing reactions. The unobservant, of course, saw nothing except his Anthony accompanied by a man of his usual type: tall and stylish. Anthony had told him that any men of his interest were usually much like him physically: at least in that way he wouldn’t stand out; his previous liaisons were less obviously in charge, though.

If they were somewhat more observant-and most of those worthy of being called members seemed to be- they noticed his possessive stance toward the smaller man, and Anthony’s collar. Loki saw some, who glanced, noted, and moved on-it was none of their interest or concern- but they were to be remembered, because they were still among those who noticed. There were some who noticed, and immediately began gossiping and playing at plots: some of them would find themselves unwelcome at the club, Loki thought, being too careless with their observations; some of them were simply young.

Then there were the powers in the room.

Anthony’s analogy of sharks was apt: they moved through the room with the confidence of a super predator moving through a school of worm-eating fish. This club was where ‘real power’ was, and, like him, they expressed it using words, other people’s arms, and a sharp blade in the darkness. Anthony had been on the surface, never seeing just how deep this was.

The question was whether they had power and influence only within this world, or enough to defend it.

The powers in this room congregated as was suitable at the highest places of the room, looking down over the crowd of prey and potential allies. They only occasionally moved into the shallows: gathering information; testing people. Loki noted two locations that seemed to be chosen most often for these ‘private’ conversations: they were likely bugged.

One of the observant people was looking at him more than at Anthony. Loki saw the moment when recognition touched his eyes, and flickered away behind the mask of his face. _He knows who I am_. The man glanced at Anthony and his eyes moved to the collar. _A glimpse of cruelty and victory? What game was this one playing…_

Loki moved his fingers to Anthony’s wrist, and found him distracted by a different player.

While Loki had been watching the man with the cruel eyes hidden behind the affable expression, Anthony’s eyes had been drawn to a woman in white. What Loki saw was a young woman in what he had learned to identify as Victorian styling, the formal posture belying a corset like Ms. Vivienne wore. She had an armor of solitude that Loki could feel in his bones. Her hair was a pale blonde-too fair for Vanaheim– and her eyes a startlingly sharp blue.

 _“Who is this,_ _Ástin mín?”_ Loki asked along the link, gently. She was important to his Anthony- that was obvious.

 _“Emma. Emma Frost.”_ Anthony thought back, and Loki was almost swamped with thoughts and flashes of memory.

_Emma:_

_A fragile angry girl- both of them hiding from their fathers in mansions in New York._

_A budding beauty- shuddering away when he tried to kiss her._

_A forced match- their father’s thinking it good business; both of them agreeing it was better than the alternative, neither of them wanting the other. Don’t touch me._

_A genius, in a different field- meeting him after his parent’s deaths, being one of the few who knew about mourning and celebrating at once. She’d taken the glass out of his hand and put him to bed._

_A ruler of her own industry, with her father’s death- his certainty on meeting her eyes at the funeral that she had killed him._

Loki almost staggered backward, but forced himself to sweep Anthony into his arms, and hide his face in the motion. The musicians had just started playing a new song: it was cover enough until he could put his thoughts in order.

“She… She isn’t interested, that way.” Anthony whispered quietly into his ear as they moved.

“I could tell from your thoughts. It was just startling. She is closer than any but the doctor to your heart.” Loki let Anthony lead, as he didn’t know this dance, but it seemed simple enough.

“Shared experiences: lousy fathers; impossible comparisons; never being good enough…” Anthony smiled darkly. “Like us.”

“So who is the man in grey, trying to make friends with your Harry Leland?” He gave Anthony the image of the man.

“Wow... what’s he doing here?” - _Wonder of wonders it distracted Anthony from his Emma_ \- That’s Alexander Pierce, he was Secretary of Defense. He’s involved with S.H.I.E.L.D.” Anthony frowned into Loki’s shoulder. “He’s not a member, yet; that would get around if he was. He must be a potential.”

“He recognized me- unlike anyone else I saw- and he looked…”-Loki considered-“like he assumed I had ensorcelled or tricked you, and he was pleased with that.”

“That’s… bad.”

“Yes, yes it is. Is your Emma someone of power? She is heading over to them.”

“I think so.”

“Then, elskan skáld mín, let us each choose our partners, and see what we can find out.” -Loki considered the impressions of Anthony’s Emma- “Warn her, then, as well,” he said, trusting him to decide how much to tell her- lifting the binding oath of silence to Anthony’s choice.

“Thank you.” _For trusting me, for letting me trust her._

“Be careful. You are too trusting.”

“But you trust me.”

“I’m a fool, then, but only for you. Be careful.”

The music ended, and before the next dance, Loki slipped the cravat away from Anthony’s wrist and let him fly to a white gloved hand.

_What a silly thought, he isn’t my Hawk…_

He caught the eye of Secretary Pierce and glanced toward a private looking corner of the room, and walked off to wait.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alexander Pierce is basically canon to the movies. Emma Frost is an AU (different from Canon) for movie or comic book, although she is based more on the comic book version, i guess. maybe.


	5. The Hellfire Club: Shall We Dance? – Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's POV "They always met in Libraries"

 

Tony tried to keep his game face on, as Loki escorted him across the ballroom. It was easier as he got used to it, but the sharp glances at his arm-looped in his own cravat and held by Loki- or his neck-with the glint of gold and green around it-made him twitch. It also made him insanely turned on.

Every now and then Loki’s bare skin brushed against his, and he caught a glimpse of his thoughts; it was terrifying. Thor was an open book- and seemed to expect everyone else to be- but Loki… wasn’t. This wasn’t like he’d expected at all.

He’d expected Stuttgart: an obvious predator, a rock star pretending to be part of the boring social scene. Tony thought of it like playing with fire in front of the social crowd before going back to the dangerous people again, but as he caught glimpses of the Hellfire Club through Loki’s eyes, he suddenly realized that THIS was the dangerous crowd, and he’d been ignoring the fuel-air explosive in the room for far too long.

But the rest of the room simply dropped off his radar when Emma walked in.

It had been too long. He’d only seen her briefly since Afghanistan; they both had empires to run and-to be honest- he hadn’t wanted her in the same room with Pepper. He was glad that Loki had him leashed with the scarf, otherwise he would have been through the crowd in a flash and over to her. Proud, frightened, devastating Emma: the shadows in the ballroom shrank away from her as if she was a spotlight.

Loki moved his fingers to Tony’s wrist _. Something was wrong?_

 _“Who is this,_ _Ástin mín?”_ Loki asked along the link, surprisingly gently. Tony suddenly realized a problem: Loki was horribly possessive and ‘didn’t share’. Emma wasn’t a threat that way; he had to make sure he saw that.

 _“Emma. Emma Frost.”_ Anthony thought back, and brought up his memories, trying to explain.

Loki swept Tony into his arms as the musicians started playing a new song.

Tony needed to know he understood. “She… She isn’t interested, that way.” Tony whispered into his ear.

“I could tell from your thoughts,” Loki replied. “It was just startling. She is closer than any but the doctor to your heart.”

“Shared experiences: lousy fathers; impossible comparisons; never being good enough…” Anthony smiled darkly, thinking about her toxic family. “Like us.”

“So who is the man in grey, trying to make friends with your Harry Leland?” Loki gave him a flash image of the man.

“Wow... what’s he doing here? That’s Alexander Pierce, he was Secretary of Defense. He’s involved with S.H.I.E.L.D.” Tony frowned into Loki’s shoulder, thinking hard. “He’s not a member, yet; that would get around if he was. He must be a potential.”

“He recognized me- unlike anyone else I saw- and he looked,”-Loki hesitated-“like he assumed I had ensorcelled or tricked you, and he was pleased with that.”

“That’s… bad.” _If he was ‘pleased’ that Loki had trapped me, and he knew who Loki was? That was beyond bad._

“Yes, yes it is. Is your Emma someone of power? She is heading over to them.”

“I think so.”

“Then, elskan skáld mín, let us each choose our partners, and see what we can find out… Warn her, then, as well,” he said, lifting the binding oath of silence and letting him make the call.

“Thank you.” _For trusting me, for letting me trust her._

“Be careful. You are too trusting.”

“But you trust me.”

“I’m a fool, then, but only for you. Be careful.”

The music ended, and before the next dance, Loki slipped the cravat away from Tony’s wrist and let him go.

He caught Emma’s eyes and smiled- she always read him like an open book. It must have been too long because she looked puzzled at him for a moment, but then one of her rare smiles crossed her face. She flicked her eyes to the stairs and he left to meet her in the library.

They always met in libraries.

It was empty when he slipped into the private library, and she caught up with him a minute later. She closed the door behind her and leaned on it, palming the electronic lock next to the door- they wouldn’t be disturbed.

She was the only woman in the hellfire club who dressed like she did, covered nearly chin to floor, even wearing gloves. Tony doubted many people knew it was because she hated to be touched. He held out his arms and let her walk into them.

“I didn’t know how much I missed you until I did,” Tony smiled.

“You’ve changed.”

“Yes.” There was never any point in lying to her.

“You’re wearing a collar.” She brought a gloved finger up to it. “He’d better be worth it.”

“He’s so much like us it’s scary, Em.” He held out his wrist. “He insisted I make them.”

“You’ve been gone.”

“Pepper. I tried– I tried so hard not to be a monster.”

“We’re all mad here,” she said. They’d both loved Carroll.

“Lo… my partner… I knew there were dangerous people here; I didn’t understand how much.” Their conversations probably seemed jumpy to anyone who wasn’t them. “There’s a group, Em, trying to kill us, I need to know if the Club is part of it, or not.”

“Is he a telepath?” she asked.

“What?” It seemed like an odd thing to ask; maybe he’d misunderstood.

“Is he?” She put a gloved hand to his cheek.

“No,” Tony frowned. “Or at least… only with me.”

“But he is with you?”

It seemed important to her, so he answered her: “Yes, he saved my life. The way he saved my life formed a bond.”

“That explains it,” she nodded.

“If you say so. He’s talking to Secretary Pierce. Pierce seemed to think I was controlled, and that that was a good thing. And he knew who Lo was, which means…” Tony took Emma’s gloved hand in between both of his. “He may be Hydra.”

She frowned at him, but he didn’t see any disbelief in her face. “So they really are?”

He felt like a weight lifted off his chest; if she had any clues, this would be so much easier to explain. “Yes, they really are. They infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. a long time ago, and they tried to hire my partner to kill the Avengers.” He grinned at her lack of concern for them. “That’s my Snowflake.”

“Should I care?”

“That included– maybe even especially– me.”

“Then I care,” she smiled at him. “Just a little.”

“I missed you, Ice Queen.”

“I missed you, too, Hugs.”

They stood there for a bit. Tony feeling that old familiar cool presence filling the back of his mind. She was always such a soothing-

“Em?”

“Yes?” She looked puzzled- no, she FELT puzzled.

“You’re a telepath?”

She started to pull away; Tony put a hand on her back. _Three layers of clothing and a corset, as usual._ “I don’t mind, Em. Heck, I’m almost getting used to it now, from him.”

“I thought you might be frightened of me.” She had that same lost worried look that Bruce did sometimes.

“Of course I’m scared of you, Em.” He rolled his eyes. “You kick, and you aim for the shins.”

She snickered, “I aim higher now.”

“Then yeah, I’m scared.” He reached out and tugged the end of her hair gently, like he used to when he was a kid. “Come on, we used to outwit our father’s together.”

“I killed mine.”

“I know. I knew when I saw you.”

“I’m a real monster.”

“Nah, I room with a guy who turns into a giant green rage monster. You’re cool.”

“Let me touch you?”

“LET you?” Tony snorted. “You’re the one that doesn’t want to be touched; I’m mister inappropriate hugging, remember?” He blinked. “The touching? Our telepathy is touch… is yours?”

“Touching can have it happen when I don’t want it to.”

“Iiiiiiiiick!”

“Yeah.”

He stared at her in horror. “Hammer!” The thought made his stomach turn.

“Ewwww…” she made a face. “I need a bath, ick!”

“I feel that way about him WITHOUT the telepathy.” He looked thoughtful. “So do I have you to thank for him never making it past the application step?”

“Not JUST me.”

“Lo already gave me permission to tell you whatever I thought I could trust you with. That’s pretty much everything.”

“You’re too trusting.”

“He says that, too”

“He’s right.”

Tony held his arms out and stood still. She leaned her cheek against his cheek. He felt cool, and comfortable, and felt a sensation as if a gentle breath was moving across his thoughts somehow. He was drifting into a haze of crystal and snow that reminded him of subspace, and his last thought was that unlike with Loki, he couldn’t see her thoughts at all…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will remind people that this Emma Frost is not canon compliant, although she shares a lot of elements with the comic book canon. sorry if their conversation is a bit odd sounding, but they were not talking "for outsiders" they were talking to each other.   
> PS. yes i know i promised some folks a smutty chapter soon. err... sorry? the upcoming chapters just didn't go that way,


	6. Playing with Hellfire - Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki has a conversation with Mr. Pierce, in which he very literally tells the truth.  
> (my apologies i accidentally uploaded an uncorrected version, it has now been corrected)

Loki waited patiently in the private looking corner he’d chosen. He had to be careful not to draw attention, but he managed a small scrying in the glass of wine that he’d gotten from a servant. Pierce was talking pleasantly to the people at the bar, in no apparent hurry to meet with him.

Loki felt his annoyance beginning to turn to insult.

By the time Pierce made his excuses and came over to find Loki, Loki’s insult had turned to vindictive ice.

“I wasn’t expecting to run into you here, Mr. Pierce.”

“A pleasure, Mr…”

“Stark’s guest. You can call me Mr. Jotuun, if you like.” Loki smiled pleasantly. “Although you know my other name.”

“I don’t know what you mean?” The man was an excellent actor, he kept his voice level, “We’ve never met.”

“You’re former Secretary of Defense, and currently one of the powers that be in charge of SHIELD, Mr. Pierce.”

Pierce’s face held a momentary flicker of alarm. “Oh? Did Mr. Stark tell you who I was?”

“Mr. Stark,” Loki smirked, “isn’t thinking very clearly, but will tell me anything I want. There’s still no point in pretending you don’t know who I am.”

“We’ve never met.” His lips pressed together firmly.

Loki sighed, “No, we haven’t; I simply assumed a man of your authority would know the arrangements being proposed by his subordinates. Especially since they are dangling such a rich prize in exchange.”

He wasn’t the little spider, though; Loki could see his eyes react.

“Shall we stop dancing, Secretary Pierce? Any organization has many heads…” –he watched the minute flickers across his face; Hydra indeed– “but the people at the very top do need to keep an eye on the other ones, lest they be bitten off.”

Pierce gritted his teeth and asked quietly, “Is this private enough?”

“No one can overhear me unless I allow them to, Mr. Pierce,” Loki smiled into his glass of wine.

He nodded. “So you’ve decided to take us up on our offer?”

“Frankly, I am debating how much I trust you to keep your end of the deal. In addition, I found Mr. Stark an easy enough acquisition, and worth acquiring on his own merits.”

He shook his head. “They’re dangerous and they need to die.”

“All of them? Running Stark Industries from behind the scenes would seem more attractive.”

“Maybe. We have experts who say he’s not controllable.”

“He isn’t controllable… by you, or most other people. I am not most other people.” It was his favorite kind of lie: both statements were true but the implications were false.

“I can consider it,” he said.

_You can, but you won’t. You are quite determined that they will all die, aren’t you?_

“Do. I am enjoying myself immensely.” He sipped his drink, and glanced down at the surface of the wine. Indeed, the powers that were had vanished from the bar.

“We could use you on our side,” he said.

… _until we’re through using you, then you die_ , Loki added in his head.

“I’m certain you could. I repeat what I said before: I do not trust you, although we may yet have business.”

Pierce changed the subject slightly. “Why did you have Tony Stark bring you HERE?”

Loki smiled at him, “Why are YOU here, Mr. Pierce?”

“Politics, mostly; trying to find out more about what’s really going on here. Our agents have consistently failed to get the full picture, but I fit the membership profile best.” He sounded irritated, likely unhappy over his minions’ failures.

“I expect several heads have been members, and simply kept it to themselves. Why reveal your hidden strengths?”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but finally said simply, “I know.”

“Do you now? So are you trying to find out who has kept their membership from the rest of Hydra, or gain a hidden weapon for yourself?”

“Don’t mention names.”

“I told you, no one can over hear us unless I permit it. No microphone or eavesdropping device will function, unless I allow it.”

“A convenient ability.”

“Yes, it is.

“So…” Loki asked, “Do you intend to make use of the power here for your own ends? Or simply remove it so others cannot have it? I do wish to know before I make any effort to cultivate it myself.”

Pierce looked thoughtful. “Alright,” he said, “maybe you can help.”

“For a price, perhaps.” Loki sipped his drink. “What do you want to know?”

“We need to find out what their stand on mutants is, among other things. There are some members who are apparently, and some members trying to legislate against them.” He grumbled, “It’s confusing.”

“What difference does it make? I find the distinctions Midgardians make between different types of power perplexing, myself. Does Hydra have some issue with them?”

“They’re a tool- a resource. Like any resource, they need to be controlled and managed. As you yourself said, the people need to be led, they are meant to follow. They need order. Uncontrolled people with uncontrolled power cannot be permitted. They have a place, of course.”

_Ah yes, you like me for the Other’s pretty speech; another reason not to trust you, as if I needed more._

Loki nodded, “So, you need to know whether you can control the …mutants… through the club; if they are a weapon to bring them to heel, or if they support them in some way?”

“No one can be permitted to oppose our plans,” he shrugged. “Everyone will comply, or be removed.”

Loki made a show of looking bored, “Or get tired of playing here and go on their way.”

“That… is also acceptable,” he nodded. _As if you would ever let power escape you._

“The scepter….” He made a point of sounding like someone failing at polite disinterest.

“You’ll leave after you get it?”

“Well, I would leave when I got bored in any event,” he said lightly. “But I have no intention of leaving the scepter here.” _Of course, I wasn’t planning on leaving WITH it._

“You could be a good addition to our plans, seriously, especially if you can control Stark.”

“Stark trusts too easily; he lets himself be too vulnerable.” _And I don’t. Fool._

Pierce looked astonished, “I hadn’t thought so, and he’s usually defensive and hostile.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Touché.”

“How would I contact you directly?” Loki asked him, tiring of the conversation, and seeing in the dregs of his glass that Anthony had returned.

“You shouldn’t. I have too many dangerous people, too close to me. I’ll contact you through our mutual friends.” He nodded and walked away.

 _How very rude._ Loki waited until he was clear and started talking politely over his empty glass of wine.

“Indeed, no one can eavesdrop unless I permit it.” He looked up at the camera in the light fixture. “Your prospective member-spy is very foolish.”

He moved away from the wall and saw Anthony standing at the bar with his Emma, who touched his cheek and turned to walk away.

“Shall we discuss dangerous people who were standing too close to him?” He smirked as he handed his glass to a waiter, who quietly handed him an earpiece. Loki slipped the device into his ear.

“A very impressive audition, Mr. Laufeyson,” said a deep male voice in his ear. “Shall we also discuss the fact that when foolish spies play with fire, they get burned?”

“Indeed.” Loki smiled and went to collect his Anthony. _This was going to be a fascinating meeting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very precisely tells the truth, very specifically, he doesnt lie. i never said "the whole truth"


	7. The Hellfire Club: Friday’s Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize in advance. This was supposed to be a fun chapter. It isn't. They end up talking about family...

Tony grabbed two ginger ales and caught up with Loki. “We get to amuse ourselves for a couple of hours. The big-wigs need to deal with some stuff, including what I spoke to Emma about. How did your conversation go?”

Loki just smiled–it was a really smug smile– and touched Tony’s hand as he took the ginger ale. “It’s complicated, and I want to-“ Tony suddenly had a very clear image of what Loki wanted to do… complete with sensory input–“but of course, that will have to wait until we get home… still, I’m sure we can have some fun here, too.”

 _Woah._ “Um… “ Tony felt himself flushing and his pants were suddenly very snug.

Loki leaned in close to him and turned his head. Tony suddenly realized he was wearing a very subtle earpiece. “Shall we find a private room, then, for a couple of hours?”

“Sure.” _Where’d he get THAT?_ Tony nodded, and escorted him off toward the private rooms.

They SHOULD have been stopped by the smiling waiter-looking guy at the stairwell for Tony to sign his guest through; they weren’t. They should definitely have been stopped to check in before they got to the rooms; nothing.

Once they were in the room, Tony tried to explain that. “Lo… we should have been stopped for security like at least five times by now. There’s no problem with you BEING here, but you’re just a guest and they should have checked. That’s just wrong.”

“I suspect having the actual authorities here listening to my conversation earlier has put me in a slightly different position, Anthony.”

“Say what?”

“Pierce was Hydra, and I don’t think the club appreciates his spying.” Loki took the earpiece out of his ear and put it down on the bedside table. “I ensured we had the conversation where the club leadership could hear it. Whichever gentleman was in my ear-so to speak- wanted to ensure I stayed for a rather more immediate membership review.” He smiled. “But as you said, they will be busy for a few hours.”

“I mentioned the possibility of Pierce being Hydra to Emma and she believed me- at least she believed they existed. Are you sure about him?”

“Quite. I got him to admit to it. We should ask them for the recording, in fact.”

There was a knock at the door, which Loki didn’t seem surprised by. It turned out to be room service: quite a bit of food and a bottle of wine. Loki put it aside.

“How did YOUR conversation go, elskan mín?”

“Good. I missed her.” Tony sat down on the bed. “She’s actually got some real authority in the club, and she’ll be talking to people. She… “ Tony hesitated. If some places in the club were bugged… he held out his hand.

Loki looked a bit perplexed but came over to the bed, took his hand and kissed it.

_“Bugged? Are they listening here? The club is supposed to be a listening free zone.”_

Loki turned his hand over and started doing obscene things to Tony’s palm with his tongue. _“Yes, they had cameras and listening devices, placed in at least two strategically private looking spots. I noticed they took new people there to talk. The rest of the ballroom was free of them. After Pierce went away, the earpiece was delivered to me by a waiter.”_

Tony reached up and pulled Loki down onto the bed. Well, Loki let him. _“Are we being watched here?”_

Loki smirked down at him and reached into his pocket; he held up one of the swiveling loop connectors, “Stop worrying about being seen, Anthony.”

“It’s an old habit.”

“And I’m sure it has served you well, before, but for now? “ He touched the connector to the collar. “We have at least an hour or two, and if anyone is watching this room? Let them.”

Loki tugged at the collar ring. _Fuuuuuuuck that was so hot_. Then he pulled Tony in for an absolutely brain searing kiss. Apparently he tried to have some kind of conversation, mentally. Tony wasn’t paying attention. After the kiss Loki sat there and pulled Tony’s head against his cheek.

As Tony’s brain reset he had a sudden flash of Emma in the same position, in the library.

 _“She’s a TELEPATH?”_ Loki thought on the link. Actually, it would almost be more apt to say he yelped on the link. Tony could feel intense worry across the link.

 _“Yeah. It makes sense.”_ Tony thought about the cool feeling he had, almost like a hand on the back of his head, when they were together. _“I expect she’s been one for a long time.”_

_“Telepathy on a bond…. Can be difficult enough, Anthony. People are accustomed to privacy in their thoughts. Actual telepaths, much like actual Oracles, often go mad.”_

Tony blinked at the flashes of worry and bits and pieces of Loki’s childhood that leaked down the link. _“Your mom is an oracle?”_

Worried silence on the link. _“No.” -_ a slight pause-“A _little. She has… insights.”_

 _“Um…”-_ no polite way to put this, I guess- _“Is she… mad?”_

 _“I… there was a time I would have been furious that anyone implied that.”_ Loki didn’t feel furious, so Tony figured it was ok for now, _“But… I do not think she is ‘MAD’ as most oracles become, but I think… I think she is less well than I used to believe. I wonder, now, if it is why SHE never told me the truth.”_

_“That one went over my head, Babe.”_

_“I think… now… that perhaps when she tried to look she saw so many pathways, so many possibilities, that she was paralyzed with them. I remember, now that I know the truth, so many times she seemed to catch herself about to say something. She dreams of true things sometimes, but people change, situations change, it’s… even a strong oracle will see many paths, and she is not that strong an oracle.”_

_“Probabilities.”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“It’s not fixed. Like a lot of physics, and quantum effects. First you have observer paradoxes- looking at it changes it- and then you have the fact that once you go far enough down the event cascade, it can go so many ways…”_

Loki went back to kissing him, but more comfortingly than derailing his brain. _“Yes. I wonder if she didn’t see so many options, so many paths, that she didn’t know how to not make it worse… or wasn’t sure how likely what she was seeing was… and she may not have seen anything to do with me, at all.”_

_“I remember she told you some good advice, though.”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Maybe that was all she thought she could do.”_ Tony took a deep breath, because he knew he was heading onto dangerous ground. All his attempts to be subtle and deal with this gently, however, were kind of ruined by Loki being better at the link.

 _“I CANNOT picture my father abusing her!_ ” Loki’s thoughts were suddenly like walking on barely cooled lava. The nice stable surface just crazed out from under you with streaks of red hot anger and fear.

Tony pulled away and looked Loki in the eye, but took hold of Loki’s hands. _“Babe… Lo… There are lots of kinds of abuse. You don’t have to HIT someone to abuse them. I’m not even sure it has to be DELIBERATE. Imagine if… if we had this kind of link… and I looked down the link and realized you didn’t want to stay with me.”_

 _“Don’t be ridiculous; I would have killed you if that was the case.”_ Tony could tell that was supposed to be reassuring. _The weird thing is? It kind of was._

Tony laughed at that. _“I know, just… what IF your mom… I mean, your dad is a manipulative jerk; can you IMAGINE the bad possibilities she must see? What if she sees possibilities where he cheated on her? What if she KNOWS stuff that hurts, knows he’s lying to her- or thinks he is, but isn’t sure. What if he just never has time for her, or even just doesn’t understand what she sees, and won’t LISTEN to her. That would be bad enough.”_

_“True.”_

_“From what you said… he just brought you home and she didn’t have a choice in it… and I AM NOT SAYING SHE DIDN’T WANT YOU!”_ he shouted on the link as he felt Loki start falling apart. Tony pulled back and shook him.

“Stop that!”

“It’s a touchy subject,” he growled.

“Yeah. I was just saying, your dad doesn’t seem to CONSULT on stuff, even stuff she was gonna be, like REAL involved in.”

Loki blinked. “I... never thought about that.” He frowned.

“Remember how upset I get if you do stuff to make decisions for me, outside of the bedroom, without talking to me? Remember how upset you were about the stuff that I did, like taking people to your house, even though it worked out, even though you agreed it was the best call, because it was supposed to be YOUR decision?”

Loki nodded slowly. “Yes, I agreed, but... You’re right, it felt like an imposition.”

Tony took Loki’s hands again, but kept talking out loud, “Lo… Your dad brought home a KID. That’s a pretty big thing. That’s bigger than a kitten or a puppy, and they tell you never to get THOSE for someone without a detailed discussion. Your dad brought home a KID. From what you said, he originally had all these political plans.”

“Yeesss…”

“Yeah? Well, even if he did, those still mean people RAISING A KID. Did he expect her to oversee it with nannies? I don’t know… but suddenly your mom had a KID that your dad just dropped on her. EVEN if she was thrilled to death, that’s… not respectful. To just expect her to take care of a kid.”

Tony took a deep breath, “And from what you said, Babe, your people have a really bad track record. He came home with a kid from a people that are not… liked… and suddenly, she has to either go along with his ideas, or… or what? Throw a kid out to die?”

Loki winced; Tony felt the hurt through the link.

“Lo… EITHER… your dad had reason to believe that your mom REALLY wanted a kid, and he didn’t consult her on bringing home a kid from a people they were at WAR with– which is bad enough– or he didn’t know if she wanted another kid, and he brought home a war captive kid.”

“I… I guess I never thought about THAT side of it.”

“Lo… Your dad kept that quiet, right? I mean, no one knew in Thor’s crowd, and I can’t imagine it wouldn’t have leaked if a lot of people knew.”

Loki shook his head, “It must have been VERY few people. He couldn’t have concealed the adoption, but… why didn’t I think about this?”

“Because its personal and you HURT? I still keep realizing stuff about my parents, and they’ve been dead for a while. You’d only just found out all this world shattering news and then you were dealing with… other stuff.”

Tony pulled Loki down to lie on the bed with him. He curled up against him and put his head on Loki’s chest; one of the advantages of their height differences was that Loki’s chest was a convenient pillow. He interlaced their hands and went back into link.

_“Lo, EVEN if your dad hid the ‘where did he find you’ part… People in that generation, the war generation, HAD to know you were adopted, right?”_

_“I hadn’t thought about it.”_

_“And this Heimdall dude, he had to know the truth, right?”_

_“Of course. Which would explain…”_

_“Why he didn’t trust you, maybe even hated you, who knows.”_ Tony lay there listening to Loki breath raggedly. _“Obviously, your mom knew. She DIDN’T just hand you off to nannies, but… “_

_“She wouldn’t have had the choice, to keep the secret… yes, I see.”_

_“That’s a real DICK move, to bring home a kid that’s from the enemy, which- as you put it- people think of as being monsters, right? And just… hand the kid to her?”_

Loki suddenly went still under him.

“Lo?”

Loki unlaced their hands and slid out from under him. In the time it took Tony to blink Loki was standing at the curtained windows,

“I’m wondering just how much of a fool I have been,” Loki said with a low growl.

“Babe? Uh, at the risk of a music quote, ‘everybody plays the fool, sometimes’.” He couldn’t help but half sing it. “Whatever it is, I bet we handle it better together, right?”

“Perhaps, Anthony, but for right now I need to THINK.”

“Nope.” Tony walked over to him. “If you don’t let me go off and get all broody and wrapped up in dark thoughts by myself, you don’t get to.”

_It was actually COLDER over here, shit._

“Lo? Babe? They gave us red wine, it doesn’t need to be chilled that much.”

Loki startled and looked at him, then at the condensation forming on the bottle of wine; he took a few deep breaths.

“At least sit down and eat something?” Tony suggested.

Loki sat down and Tony poured the wine. He looked at the bottle thoughtfully. “Well… it shouldn’t be BAD cold.”

They ate the food and Loki drummed his fingers on his leg while Tony mentally climbed the walls trying to figure out what was wrong.

Eventually Loki said something. “I… I was wondering how much my mother saw in advance.”

“What?”

“If she foresaw an abandoned child.”

Tony blinked. “Well that would be better, wouldn’t it? I mean, at least they would have been in agreement, then.”

“I suppose… but I don’t think she did. Or… whatever she saw wasn’t what he expected? When he told me, when he shouted at me… I don’t know. He said my birthright was to die.”

Tony choked on the last of his wine. “GEEZUS FUCK, Lo… what a horrible thing for him to say!”

“It’s true, I suppose. Laufey said he would have killed me, that it was a wise thing to have abandoned me.”

“Babe.” Tony came over and sat down on Loki’s lap- one of the other advantages of the size difference. “I think you have to consider that everything you HEARD was being listened to by someone who was hurting really, really bad; that, and Odin is a dick. I’m just saying that the only way to get a real answer sounds like to ask your mom, and she may not have been clued in on all of it herself.”

Loki nodded. “But you are right,   about the fact that my adoption could not have been entirely secret. That would still… color people’s opinions, even if they did not know the details.”

“Yeah, and you really don’t LOOK like your brother. Do you look like any of the family?”

“No. Not really.”

Tony put his head down on Loki’s chest again. “Hey, could be worse, Babe. You could actually be related to them. I see my dad’s face in the mirror every damn day.”

They were still sitting there together when someone came to get them for the meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know how there was supposed to be a talk when Loki came back and instead Tony ran off with my keyboard and we had a sex chapter? this is like the opposite of that.  
> i MUST remind everyone that the personal opinions of the characters do not reflect "word of God" or author.  
> (But bringing home pets, or kids, without discussion is a really really bad idea)


	8. the Hellfire Club: Welcome to Hell- Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The return of the cat girl, and introductions

The servant took them as far into the club as Anthony had ever been, apparently. They were escorted to a private elevator, and a different servant opened a panel on the elevator that had more floors marked. Anthony wanted to stop everything and look into that, but fortunately was able to be distracted from disassembling the entire elevator. _At least he was acting normally- for Anthony._

“We’re putting this into one of my buildings,” he said firmly.

“Why?”

“Because it’s COOL!”

“Ah.” _Definitely acting normally for Anthony._

They were met by what appeared to be yet another servant when the elevator reached the bottom level. Loki didn’t think this was a servant– they moved too well, like someone trained with knives. The air was slightly damp, and the stonework looked worn and old.

Anthony was looking around with a frown, “Um… yeah, definitely not on the floor plan.”

“No.” His Emma was standing near an open door. “It isn’t. On the floor plan.”

Loki kept his thoughts deep behind his shields. He’d been distracted by the discussion about his mother, but … telepathy was a rare gift in the other realms, and usually an unwanted one. The spells that permitted it outside of a bond were viewed with suspicion. It has never occurred to Loki that there were any telepaths on MIDGARD of all places, much less that his Anthony would know one. Anthony’s mind appeared intact, undamaged, but he wasn’t entirely certain how subtle such a creature could be.

“Ms. Emma Frost.” Loki bowed slightly and smiled. “A pleasure to meet you. Anthony speaks very highly of you.” He kept alert for the slightest sign of intrusion, but detected none so far.

She nodded, “Mr. Laufeyson.” _Right, they knew his name... Was that from Anthony’s mind?_

She looked at him solemnly, “Tony thinks very highly of you. If you betray his trust I will destroy you.”

Anthony startled. “Emma!” he scolded disapprovingly.   She just kept looking solemnly at Loki.

Loki just smiled, remembering the unspoken statement by the Doctor, “Evidently there will be a line.”

She turned and walked into the room. Tony muttered, “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. Loyalty in one’s friends is a rare… thing.” _At least if she cares about you, she probably didn’t damage you._ Loki trailed off as he took in the room.

The room was meant to be old looking: it succeeded. The walls were hung with dark banners and curtains, with no way to tell which covered walls, and which covered doorways. There was a raised stone area on the far side, with what could only be called a throne.

A large man sat on the throne, with a barely dressed collared woman artfully displayed at his feet. Her eyes were intelligent, and she was watching them with the attitude of a trained guard, not a pet. Beside him, near one of the lesser chairs, stood Harry Leland; on the other side of him stood a woman of darker complexion, dressed all in black, and she held a goblet cast in the shape of a skull. Emma Frost took her position near the other side of the throne.

Loki scanned the room with his eyes quickly. Slightly more than half of those in the room were mostly in black, the others mostly in white. Here and there someone broke with the pattern, but they were most often near a chair that was draped in black or white. There were perhaps nine chairs, so nine people of authority, and many of them had servants, but many of those servants seemed to be powerful as well.

There was no gold anywhere to be seen here, except on the people, but the atmosphere of power rivaled anything Loki had seen in any realm, even gold drenched Asgard.

It made Loki edgy: these people had power, but it was a power that wasn’t as easy for him to see, or understand, as sorcery. This was power in blood, and secrets; in bargains, and in some unspoken personal power. This was a secret, and secrets themselves had power.

Anthony stiffened, and Loki could tell by the way his hands twitched that he wanted to cover his collar.

Loki brushed the back of his hand gently, _“First, you are no one’s LESSER, just because you wear my collar, and second: look.”_ There, curled on one of the chairs, was Fluffy, with Gloria standing behind her chair with an attentive look.

“Fluffy?!” Anthony spoke in his startlement. “Um.”

Fluffy just smiled and waved a paw- well a pink and white partial glove, anyway. Surrounded by her fellows, Loki could finally see that here, SHE was the master, and her master-the servant. That boded well for his Anthony.

“Mr. Laufeyson, Mr. Stark,” the man spoke from the throne, “I am Sebastian Shaw, the Black King of the New York Hellfire Club. Be welcome to this meeting of the Inner Circle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't resist using the "evidently there will be a line" line from Loki.  
> Lots of talk coming up.  
> Edited to add: Part 3 of this series "resources" has a chapter on the hellfire club in THIS alternate Universe. in the Xmen comics they got retconned so often its insane. I changed some stuff to have it make sense in this world. for information on the comic book hellfire club and its members (remember i changed stuff) go here: https://www.pinterest.com/fabricdragon/fan-fiction-related/


	9. The Hellfire Club: Openings and Defenses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony babbles when he's nervous.  
> anyway, in apologies for Monday's short chapter, here is an early update!

Tony didn’t want to admit it, but he was desperately glad to see Fluffy. There were a lot of people wearing collars here, at least one lying mostly under Shaw’s feet. Until Loki drew his attention to Fluffy’s position, he was expecting to be sneered at by all the obvious doms in the room. Fluffy, at least, looked like she was in a position of respect.

Then there was the other issue…

“The Inner Circle is supposed to be a small group that acts as the board of the club, and reviews membership, handles legal issues, stuff like that.” Tony looked around. “I’m assuming there’s a lot I didn’t get in my members’ newsletter.” He said it as drily as he could and hoped his voice didn’t shake.

Emma at least, looked amused.

Harry Leland smiled at him, “Indeed, Tony. Most of the actual business of the Inner Circle is kept to the Inner Circle. You two would never be brought here, or meet with so many of us, for a simple new membership review.”

Tony nodded, “Ok, so since I recognize some of you from the club, but I obviously don’t know as much as I thought I did, can someone fill me in here? Give me an org chart? Something?” _And why the hell was Loki just standing there?_

Shaw nodded, “As you may or may not recall from the history of the club, there was a tradition to use the titles of chess pieces: the Inner Circle continued that. For the moment, all you need to know is that there are nine members of the Inner Circle here present.”

 _“Nine chairs, five black, four white: Emma is in higher prestige than Fluffy, so likely a more powerful piece, perhaps the queen. The woman next to Harry isn’t a queen; she defers too much and tries too hard,”_ Loki said on the link as their hands brushed.

_So that’s why he’s looking so nonchalant: the man was a political machine._

“So Queen Frost and… what? Bishop Fluffy?” Tony raised an eyebrow at Emma. Everyone else would read it as a question; Emma would read it as a clear sign to get on with it.

Emma smiled, “White Queen, and White Knight, respectively, but introductions can wait. First, the club is understandably puzzled by your sudden association–to the point of presenting them as a potential new member– with someone that you, and your team, have been opposing. This concerns a number of us.”

She nodded at Harry Leland and looked back at Tony, “Secondly, you expressed an interest in contacting people for an action against what are ostensibly your own allies. This is not unheard of from other club members, but it is… not expected from an Avenger.

“Third, and perhaps of import to other matters that we have been dealing with, is the news that you are being directly opposed by Hydra, and your partner cleverly maneuvered a potential member into confirming his membership in that group.”

She put her hand on the side of the throne, “With three matters which directly touch on loyalty of a member, security of the club, and the direct interests of the Inner Circle, matters became important, and urgent, enough to warrant an extraordinary session… and your attendance here.”

Shaw nodded and said, “While I know some of the answers, the Inner Circle would hear from you and your partner.”

Tony looked at Loki, and Loki just nodded. _It’s my show, then._

“Well, the short answer to the first question–and it is the short answer– is that someone forced us to confront the fact that our fights had been more flirting than trying to kill each other for a while-“

One of the people in black muttered, “Someone had to, I suppose.”

Tony frowned; he saw Loki wince out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah, apparently it was obvious to everyone but us.”

Harry grinned, “That can happen.” Tony grinned back; Harry and he had always been friendly.

“Anyway, we ended up talking– more specifically he ended up trying to kidnap me and I tricked him-“

“Which gained a great deal of my respect,” Loki interjected.

“And we found out we... err… matched up really well.” Tony coughed. “This probably would have proceeded more slowly, but unfortunately I ended up almost dying,“ –Tony noted a lot of people looking like they’d heard about that somehow already– “and Loki stepped in and saved my life.”

Loki shrugged, “Since it is likely already known, the method I used created a bond between us. This has a number of complications, but in brief it means that I am now allied to Anthony. While I was being courted by a number of organizations, Anthony belongs to this one, and is opposed and threatened by Hydra.” Loki narrowed his eyes, “Which is why it becomes important to me that Hydra not become part of this group.”

There was a lot of nodding from the court, Tony noticed. Apparently they didn’t LIKE Hydra. Tony hated that he had to question whether they would, but… the club was old, very British, and mostly white- which made Hydra a question.

“Ok,” Tony nodded. “So… BECAUSE of the new alliance with Loki–and yeah, eventually we got the rest of the Avengers going along with it; you’ll understand in a minute– we found out that Hydra still existed, and had been trying to recruit Loki to get rid of us.”

Tony started pacing slightly and continued, “If you think about it, it’s pretty good tactics: a known enemy, not associated with them, takes us out and that’s one less problem they have.”

A dark skinned younger man spoke up, “And the Nordic gods have always been looked up to by the Nazis.”

Tony laughed at that. “Yeah, well turns out that Asgard isn’t the bastion of white skin color that they imagine, even if it’s heavy on the blondes. Besides, most of Asgard doesn’t think the Midgardians are ‘their tribe’ anyway.”

Loki smiled full-on bag of cats, “My brother would have considered you amusing playthings until quite recently, as would most of the others- children at best, slaves and chattel otherwise– your skin color notwithstanding.”

“Peace,” a thin brunette man said calmly. “Time to discuss that another day.”

Tony shrugged. “The BIG problem is that Hydra turns out to be infiltrated through S.H.I.E.L.D. They apparently got in pretty early on and have at least gotten some key positions. The Director had apparently already suspected something, just not Hydra.” He raised an eyebrow and looked around at the club. “So, while I don’t get along with S.H.I.E.L.D. that well, right now Loki and I are working with the people we KNOW aren’t Hydra, to find out how far this goes.

“That’s why I can’t get much help from them for the other issue.” Tony looked at Loki pointedly.

Loki got the hint and continued, “As I assume you have been told, I was the apparent leader of the Chitauri invasion.” Loki looked around and saw that, yes, they all knew that.

“I was not, in fact, behind the invasion, merely the figurehead.”

THAT got a lot of muttering.

“I will not claim innocence, but my only way of escape was to appear to cooperate, and lead the invasion.” Loki lifted his chin and stood stiffly. “I assure you that if I WANTED to conquer the planet, my tactics are far better that THAT. Among other things, the gateway was opened where the Avengers could get to it quickly, and had the best odds of closing it.”

Tony noted with relief that people were grasping the situation very quickly. Even Fluffy, who kept covering her mouth with her hand and looking like a kid at a horror movie, seemed to be following along fast. Tony kicked himself again for underestimating these people.

Loki continued, “The scepter I used during the attack on New York, which likely you have not heard of, was a ‘gift’ by the one who truly ordered the invasion. It had a great deal of useful power.” Loki smiled thinly, “Tempting power. All of which is tied back to its master. Try to use it, and you open yourself up to his control. It’s a trap.”

More people nodded. Shaw looked intent, and kept glancing at a few of the others. _Damn these people were sharp._

“Not understanding that the LAST thing I want is to ever touch that accursed thing again, Hydra has been offering access to it as a reward for my cooperation.”

There was a chorus of “Ah!” from the Inner Circle.

Tony grinned, “Yeah, they think they have all Aces, when what they’ve got is a busted flush. The problem is that it’s supposed to be in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hands –not that I like them having it– and Hydra has it. Hydra, the people who used to make superweapons? Yeah, anyone have any idea that they’re going to STOP messing with it?”

Loki nodded, “It is an especial risk to anyone who has contacted it before, like myself. If the one who gave it to me were to look, and saw someone too close to it who had been under its power? He could re-establish control.”

“So… That’s point two,” Tony said. “We need to get that thing away from Hydra, and into a lock box OFF EARTH so the guy can’t use it as a homing beacon, or control anyone with it. Normally the Avengers would do that, but when shit went down last time, we got too close to it.” He frowned, “Basically? We need people who have never been touched by it, and who WON’T try to use it. Just drop it in a box and get it to Thor so it can be taken off the planet.”

Shaw frowned, “And you trust us to do that?”

“No.” Loki said simply. “I don’t.”

Tony winced. “I thought we agreed-“

“Anthony,” Loki said gently, but it was the kind of gently that had steel behind it. Tony found himself moving without thinking closer to Loki’s side. “Yes, we agreed. We agreed when you told me what you thought about this club, and that you could arrange to hire people discretely here.”

Loki looked up at the dais and the throne, and the people there. “Anthony didn’t understand what he was dealing with; I do. I am far more accustomed to power, and politics. Once I arrived here, I quickly realized that Anthony had unintentionally misled me as to the nature of this place- it is FAR more than he thought. Especially given what I see here? Now? No, I do not trust you with the scepter.

“It would be nearly impossible for any of you to resist using it to try to gain more power for yourselves. You would believe yourselves to be using it for your own ends, and never see that you were being used in turn, until it was too late and you had brought about another invasion, or worse.”

Tony looked around the room. _Oh dear God he was right. This wasn’t just someplace that we could hire mercenaries, this was like a whole hidden power game: of COURSE they would try to use the scepter. Absolute mind control? Being able to make your enemies into servants? Hell, it was tempting enough to think about using it himself: only for good, of course! Like making Justin Hammer shut up… or better yet, confess to the press…_

_Shit, if I’m tempted…_

“Then we’re right back to square one, on the scepter, Lo…” Tony said, and he hated how defeated he sounded.

“Naw,” Fluffy giggled. “I think I have that solved.”

EVERYONE looked at her- this sure wasn’t an arranged club ploy.

Shaw asked drily, “Care to share with the rest of us, Sandra?”

 _Her name isn’t Fluffy? Well, I guess it probably couldn’t be. She didn’t look like a Sandra, though…_ Tony’s rapid musings were interrupted by Loki’s finger tapping on his elbow.

Fluffy waved her paw- err hand, “Later, but I think I have a solution. So for right now, just skip that and go on, ok?”

Tony smiled at her. “If you have an answer, puss in boots, I’m all ears. Well, YOU’RE all ears… Anyway, there’s a big problem I’d wanted to see if the club could help with, but I still haven’t decided how to handle it, or if I trust the club with it, so… that’s two things for later.”

He took a deep breath. “So. I may not be LOKI, as far as politics and shit goes, but I’m not STUPID. There’s a lot I don’t know, and I think I’d need to before we can go any further.  What’s your deal with Hydra? I mean you knew they existed, or thought they did, and it’s pretty obvious you don’t want them around. That and obviously you understand who Loki is, and that I’m with him, so what’s your take on that? Then there’s the ‘Ok, so now I know way more than I did before, NOW what?’ side of it.”

He folded his arms and leaned on Loki-the-immovable-object, trying to look in control and casual. “So… Your turn.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, and yes i managed to scramble my update sequence somehow, so i am working on getting it straightened up


	10. the Hellfire Club: Exceeding Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Like father, unlike son? Howard Stark was the primary member of the Hellfire Club, so what's different?

Harry smiled, “Well, last things first, shall we? Your father was a member, as you know, but he was NEVER considered for the Inner Circle; you, on the other hand, have been.”

“What?” Tony blinked, a lot _. I’ve been considered for something my father wasn’t?_ He glanced at Loki and stood up straight.

“Your father,” Harry continued, “Whatever he may have been in his youth, was a driven, obsessed, and unstable individual.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“He was also a rather unreliable and potentially violent alcoholic.”

“Not news,” Tony said grimly.

“While you were still carrying on his legacy, you were a valuable asset, but not Inner Circle material.” Harry looked apologetic at him. “After your troubles in Afghanistan, some of us hoped you would… settle.   There was a great deal of debate about whether you would be a good candidate for the Inner Circle if you took things a bit more seriously.”

“Well, I guess when I stopped making weapons you blew that idea off, then.” _Everyone else did. They just wanted him for weapons development after all._

Shaw laughed, “While a weapons developer was certainly a good asset, we are practical people, Mr. Stark. Energy runs the world. Weapons? Child’s play compared to developing new energy resources. We became FAR more interested in you when you decided to put your intelligence to serious pursuits like energy sources and computers.”

Tony couldn’t say anything. He was quite certain his mouth was hanging open –‘catching flies’ as his mother used to say. No one ever thought it was more desirable to have him work on something other than weapons, no one.

“Good,” Loki nodded. “I’m glad to see someone with some sense. Most of the other people in power seem only to be interested in weapons.”

“You… You’re actually… MORE…”

Shaw raised an eyebrow. “It’s that unbelievable?” He looked thoughtfully at Loki and shook his head, “Fools, then.”

He looked back at Tony, “The only reason we have not approached you for membership in the Inner Circle previously, Mr. Stark, is that it did not seem that you had improved your stability. You continued to drink to excess, and some of the public incidents with your suit led us to question whether you were, in fact, suicidal.”

“I kind of was,” Tony shrugged. “I was also slowly being poisoned by a medical device. That’s fixed now, but… you don’t always behave at your best when you think you’ve got nothing to live for, and won’t live long anyway.”

A lot of people looked like they hadn’t known all of that.

Shaw continued, “Then there was your association with S.H.I.E.L.D.   and the Avengers.“

“Damn that sounds like a rock band.” Tony couldn’t help but mutter. Fluffy giggled; a few others looked amused; some of the others were clearly people with no sense of humor.

“As you know, we permit-perhaps even encourage- actions that your associates would not approve of. This made approaching you… unlikely,” Shaw finished diplomatically.

Tony nodded. “Well, first of all, S.H.I.E.L.D. is an alliance of convenience. Yeah, daddy dearest helped found it, so what? They threaten me and bully me and try to manipulate me into doing what they want. I’m Tony fucking Stark, I do what I want.”

The response by every other group he’d tried to work with before to that kind of statement was eye rolling at best, and glares and orders to get in line more often. He looked around and saw approving nods, measuring looks, and, in a few cases, understanding sympathy. Tony felt like breaking down in tears. He caught Emma’s eye and felt a ghostly sensation of his hand being squeezed. Loki immediately grabbed his _other_ hand.

_‘It’s ok babe, I just… I never felt accepted before.’_

_‘It is… refreshing, I know; just remember that that doesn’t mean they won’t stab you in the back for advantage.’_

Tony tried to keep that in mind and continued, “Before we came here, we… worked a lot out with the team.” He sighed. “Look, I know the publicity has the Avengers all being shiny happy hero team rainbows and unicorn farts… but it’s not true.”

“Then what is?” asked the woman with the skull goblet. “True, that is.”

“Captain America… well, until the last couple days I would have said ‘fuck that guy’. Although apparently he developed independent thinking and a comprehension of the words ‘illegal orders’ somewhere along the line. Also he got a sense of humor implanted last week, I think, maybe. We don’t get along. We have never gotten along. Oh, and apparently the club had a rep prior to World War Two.” Tony shrugged, “Anyway, MUCH to my surprise he’s going along with this. That said? Once we deal with the Hydra threat, I don’t expect he’ll be hanging around.”

Yeah, apparently the PR people had been earning their coffee and donuts. Everyone looked stunned.

“Hawkeye and Black Widow? They’re S.H.I.E.L.D. assassins. Part of their job was to keep an eye on ME in case S.H.I.E.L.D. needed to get rid of me.” Startled looks all around, Tony noted. “Yeah, I knew. Better that I knew where they were, right?”

Emma smiled and said, “Keep your friends close-“

“-and your enemies closer.” He smiled back at her. “Always.

“Anyway, odd as this may sound, Hawkeye and I get along. I like him. I think he likes me. Much to my surprise, he likes Loki. I’m working hard on having him come down on my side when this finally splits apart. It’s very likely that I get Black Widow as part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. divorce package, because they’re close.”

Shaw looked thoughtful, “And the Hulk?”

“Mine. S.H.I.E.L.D. would just put him in a cage and run tests or something.”

Shaw nodded, “Not at all what the public has been led to believe. They’ve been thorough with the propaganda.”

“Fury hates my guts. As far as I can tell, he encourages Rogers- Captain America- to ‘keep me in line’, which doesn’t exactly encourage us to bond, even if we were likely to. Oh, and Thor is… a special case. He’ll be heading back to Asgard with the scepter if we get it anyway, and who knows when he’d come back.”

Tony tilted his head, “Seriously? Inner Circle? So what do you guys actually do?”

Fluffy giggled again, “Same thing we do every night, Pinky…”

Tony stared at her. “Try to take over the world? Isn’t that kind of… trite?”

Shaw sighed, “Oversimplified, perhaps. We attempt to increase our power and influence, and our safety. It’s a fool’s game to try to overtly rule the world-“

“Yeah, I told him that,” Tony said, nodding at Loki.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t want to have as much control as we can. If nothing else, there are far too many OTHER people trying to have power, most of them dangerous to us, like Hydra. “

Emma cleared her throat softly, “A lot of us are mutants, Tony.   The only protection we have is power, money, and influence. Neo Nazi fascists with super weapons are a problem for those of us who are hated or mistrusted: mutants, people of color, anyone but straight white men and their women.”

Loki smiled, “Even straight white men wouldn’t be safe if they were a threat to Hydra’s control.”

Emma nodded. “There have been lots of different groups experimenting on mutants: trying to find ways to make more of us; destroy us; or control us. Your Hulk is one of the experiments, isn’t he?”

Tony nodded. “There have been others, too; that I know for sure.”

“That makes those groups a threat to many of us here.” Emma nodded.

Shaw looked down at Tony solemnly, “And even for those of us who COULD join Hydra, I’m afraid the members of the Inner Circle, like you, don’t find ‘subordinate’ to be a good chess position.”

Shaw smiled, “Better to reign in hell, Mr. Stark, Mr. Laufeyson, than to be reduced to a servant in their version of heaven. If someone wants my obedience and loyalty, they can damn well earn it.”

Tony was grinning when Loki smiled in that exact way that terrified Tony and sent a pulse straight to his crotch.

“I understand that very well, Mr. Shaw. I believe I tried to explain that to my brother.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so everyone knows, there have been some upheavals in my schedule here at home 'in real life'. hopefully thos won't affect my update schedule, but we shall see!
> 
> For the next few chapters, kindly remember that Tony is in a bit of shock. EVERYONE else wants him to make weapons... or wants his suits.


	11. The Hellfire Club: History of the Game – Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki asks some history questions, and questions about the rules.  
> and yes, Tony is still a bit stunned, probably right up to the end of this chapter.

His Anthony was clearly overcome by finding the sole collection of sensible and intelligent people in the country- people who could appreciate actual power and capability, unlike the rest of the idiots out there- so obviously, Loki would have to find out what the conditions and rules were.

“Anthony would make a fine addition to ANY group that understood his capabilities, Mr. Shaw, but as you have said: if you want our loyalty and our service- obedience being rather unlikely, in any case- you shall have to earn it.”

Shaw nodded, “The club has an extensive track record for loyalty, support, and discretion, Mr. Laufeyson.”

“Indeed, but you are speaking of a… new level of play. What are the rules?”

Shaw, and several others, nodded approvingly. “First and foremost, the inner circle is a group of powerful people. We acknowledge that. Arguments and conflict are almost inevitable. My predecessor encouraged backstabbing and infighting as a means to keep his competition to a minimum; I do not. If you have a conflict with another member, either bring it before the Inner Circle for arbitration, or settle it between yourselves, but NEVER involve any outsiders in any way as to compromise the privacy and business of the club.”

Loki nodded, “So… killing another member?”

Anthony looked uneasy, but didn’t say anything. Loki noted a number of people revising their opinion of him upwards.

Shaw looked calmly back, “It happens. It is not desirable. It would be preferred to settle things peacefully, of course; we EXPECT our members to make every attempt to do so. Usually a problem of that magnitude should get brought before the Inner Circle.” He shrugged, “You wouldn’t want the rest of us to think you were too ambitious, would you?”

Loki smirked. “What about killing nonmembers?”

“We expect you to keep WHATEVER you are doing discrete and that you will not endanger what could be valuable resources. If your actions endanger the club, you will be warned, if we can. Otherwise? No one is willing to risk our safety and power over someone else’s inability to clean up their own mess.”

Anthony rolled his eyes, “Lo, I don’t think they care if you murder the S.H.I.E.L.D. psych department.”

Shaw blinked a lot. Leland spoke up, “Just curious, but why do you want to kill the S.H.I.E.L.D. psych department?”

Anthony explained, “Because they messed up Hawkeye.”

At about the same time Loki said, “Because they’re incompetent.”

Leland just looked amused. “If they are incompetent, then they are in no way valuable resources to the club; ergo, our only concern is that you not leave a trail that would endanger us.” He looked thoughtfully at Anthony, “You’re alright with that?”

“I already told him, as far as I’m concerned it’s Hawkeye they messed with, so HE gets final say over if they get killed. That’s my main objection. I killed the terrorist sons of bitches that hurt me; that was my business– the psych department is his.”

Loki could almost feel the opinion shifting in favor of admitting his Anthony.

“Endanger us, betray us, and we will all work together to tear you apart,” Shaw said pleasantly. “We are otherwise quite easy to get along with.”

Anthony snorted, “Not a problem.”

Loki smiled, “Anthony and I both have rather personal and… vehement… opinions on betrayal. I assure you, if we wish you dead, there will be reason, and you will be well aware of it.” He looked around the room thoughtfully. “But by the same token, anyone found to be putting a blade to our backs, will be destroyed without further consideration.”

Anthony looked suspicious, “I don’t have to attend a lot of meetings, do I? S.H.I.E.L.D. has always had a big thing for meetings.”

Shaw nodded solemnly, “We do expect the Inner Circle to attend meetings; you need not attend them all, and you may send a proxy in your place, if they are trusted by you to hold such power, AND we approve them.” He looked thoughtful. “You would be replacing the previous expert on technology, so you likely would be called if there was a technological question.”

“Hmm.” Loki made a thoughtful noise, the balance between seeking power and being incautious being measured quickly: more information was needed. “Anthony obviously doesn’t have accurate information about the true power behind the club, and I have only what he has, and my own observations. Before we could make any decisions, I believe we BOTH need to understand more of the true situation.”

Anthony nodded, “Especially since my father was the original invitee. You say you didn’t consider him for the Inner Circle, but he was invited into the club. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been grateful to be a member, but…” –His lips pressed together firmly,– “My father and I did not get along; that’s the politest thing I can say. I have some concern over…” He sighed. “I have some concerns about that. I’m sure Emma understands.”

Ms. Frost smiled slightly, “My family had belonged long before my father. If he had been the original member, I would have been concerned as well.”

Leland cleared his throat. “I believe our guests have been standing for too long. If someone can get them chairs?” He raised an eyebrow. “We can go over the history briefly.”

Two chairs moved, apparently under their own power, to positions behind them.

Loki simply sat down. Anthony started poking his chair suspiciously.

“What on earth are you doing, Anthony?” _He wasn’t STILL having issues with magic, was he?_

“Trying to figure out if it’s magic, super powers, or tech.”

One of the people standing near the wall spoke up, “Does it matter?”

Anthony looked over and snorted, “Shit yeah, it matters. I need to know if this chair can electrocute me, ensorcle me, or if I just have to worry about it being yanked out from under me when I sit down because the person holding it’s a dick.”

 _Oh._ Loki had to admit that wasn’t unreasonable. Someone else giggled; he suspected Fluffy.

After poking at the chair a bit more Anthony dragged the chair up as close as he could to Loki’s chair and sat down- carefully.

Leland, who looked on the verge of laughing, cleared his throat. “In brief? There has always been an Inner Circle; the details, of course, change. The King is always in charge of the individual club, often with a Queen ruling alongside him. There have occasionally been   both a black and a white King or Queen, but…” –Leland coughed– “It rarely lasts.”

“Prior to the current King, Sebastian Shaw, the ruling King was the White King, Ned Buchanon. Put simply, he invited and approved Sebastian Shaw, eventually bringing him into the Inner Circle as a Bishop. When he felt Sebastian had outlived his usefulness, he tried to kill him… along with myself and several others.”

Anthony hissed. “Fuck!” Loki reached over and patted his arm. “Sorry. Reminded me of the attack on me and my… Pepper.”

Shaw raised an eyebrow at them. “My fiancée was killed in that attack. It was a long time ago.”

Anthony growled, “Obediah Stane literally ripped my… pacemaker… out of my chest and left me to die. He almost killed Pepper. Because I had ‘outlived my usefulness’ when the damn terrorists he sold me to didn’t kill me.”

There was a lot of muttering over that.

Loki stated, “As I said, Mr. Shaw, we both have INTENSE person reactions to betrayal.”

Shaw nodded slowly. “I was… not aware of that, Mr. Stark. Then allow me to explain that my predecessor was apparently secretly determined to kill me from the beginning. It was not until I managed to go through his papers afterwards that I discovered the full story. He hated mutants. Harry and I are among the older mutants here, for all that we are more common now.”

_So Leland and Shaw were both mutants, as was Ms. Frost… that’s at least three out of the nine Inner Circle, and Ms. Frost said, ‘a lot of us are mutants’. It seems likely the majority of the Inner Circle are._

“Obie sold me out to the terrorists. He was selling my weapons to a lot of people I never knew about. Eventually he would have killed me anyway, but I started getting suspicious…” Anthony said through gritted teeth

Loki shrugged, “You wouldn’t be familiar with the politics of Asgard. Suffice it to say that I also found out I had been lied to and used. Among other things.”

Shaw nodded. “Then you understand. If I have the slightest hint of betrayal I will act. However, to continue… I had invited a number of people, including Harry and your father to the club.”

“YOU did?”

“Yes. You see, in the end, it comes down very simply to this: Buchanan believed that anyone exceptional, anyone with personal power, was a threat who couldn’t be controlled, and should be used while they could be, and then destroyed. I, and my fellows believed that, while it is certainly RISKY to have individuals with personal power, it could be beneficial if handled carefully.

“I recruited your father because of his work with technology… and the super soldier formula.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just so you know, it is comic book CANON that Sebastian Shaw recruited Howard Stark into the club. in comic cannon, he, Emma Frost, and Harry Leland were all the same age, as well. The problem is that they then depicted Emma as being Tony's age, Shaw as being just a bit older, etc. now in Comic most of the mutants do age very slowly, but it still made for some timeline issues. hence Shaw is OLDER in this fic, and has settled down quite a bit. Emma wasnt there during the initial conflict with Buchanon, so that fight went differently, although Shaw's fiance still died saving his life.


	12. the Hellfire Club: Super soldiers and spies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's POV.  
> By this point Tony is being a bit hyper from stress, yes.

“NO.” Tony was back on his feet in a flash. “Even if I HAD the super soldier formula, nothing good comes of that, ever!”

Loki was trying to get hold of his arm to calm him down, so Tony kept well clear.

Shaw just leaned forward, “I said that in the past tense, Mr. Stark.”

Tony stilled and frowned suspiciously, “OK, I’m listening. Make it good.”

Loki had one hand over his face. Tony didn’t need the bond to hear the exasperated ‘Anthony!’ behind it.

Shaw continued, “I know I don’t look like a young man, but I am older than I look, Mr. Stark. Some mutants age very well, others-unfortunately-age very quickly. We are speaking of things that happened quite some time ago. Times change.”

He sighed, “Buchanon-Ned- wanted to have an army of robots and enhanced soldiers: an army that would answer only to him. Mutants were unacceptable to him unless they could be controlled. He was very disappointed to find out that Howard Stark didn’t have the entirety of the super soldier formula, only pieces of it.”

“I may think Howard was scum, but he never would have given anyone the super soldier formula, even if he had it!”

Emma quietly said, “Tony, your father was a drunk: we both know it. Enough alcohol and anyone talks.”

Tony narrowed his eyes, “Yeah, and there’s drugs, too.”

Shaw nodded, “Likely. We may never know. He obviously didn’t confide in ME. However, the fact remains that Ned Buchanon was either a Hydra member, or at least sympathetic to their methods and cause. Again, we will never know, because he died, at the cost of my fiancé’s life and several others.”

Tony sat down, suddenly feeling very tired. “I’m sorry. Believe me, I’ve been there.”

“What you may not understand is that the fear-mongers and racists have one thing right: every year there are more of us. MOST of those gifted are young, now.” Shaw shook his head, “In any event, it will soon be a moot point to have a super soldier formula even if you wanted one. “

The darker skinned man spoke up, “Who knows what would happen if you gave a mutation inducing formula to someone who was already a mutant, or a potential?”

Tony shuddered. “Ok, yeah, that’s bad. So, we’re agreed? No chasing after a super soldier formula?”

“I haven’t been for decades,” sighed Shaw. “I was simply informing you as to what got your father invited: his technology and the formula- both.”

“OK, and for me it’s the tech?”

“Indeed, we would have invited you to be a member of the CLUB for that, but that alone wouldn’t have gotten you considered for the Inner Circle.”

Loki was still being very quiet and watching, so Tony just barreled ahead, “Ok, so what gets me the privilege?”

“First, that one of the Inner Circle suggested you: in this case, Emma.”

“That makes sense. Ok, just like the club, invite only,” Tony nodded.

“Secondly, that you are willing to hire mercenaries to do something that you cannot do yourself, and that you didn’t think it beneath you as a hero.”

“I’m no hero.”

Loki spoke up drily, “No darling, you’re an idiot.” Loki glanced at the Inner Circle, “Hero is such a peculiar word, and it means so many things. I think Anthony is a hero, others do not. It depends on how you define the term.”

Shaw shrugged, “The point is, he’s willing to get his hands dirty, BUT“- he held up a finger-“not so dirty that he can’t be trusted. That’s a difficult balance. Rare.”

Tony turned that over in his mind. _Yeah, a lot of the members were ruthless enough that trusting them only happened because you had enough firepower at your back. Get up to this level and… hmm… Yeah, risky to bring anyone in who was TOO ruthless, but if they weren’t able to play hardball they’d run screaming._

“I see your point,” Tony finally said.

“Finally, Mr. Laufeyson, there’s you.”

Loki grinned, “I wondered when I came into this.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “Ok, how does HE figure into MY consideration for the Inner Circle?”

Shaw smiled, “It’s complicated, and there’s a lot more to it, but the FACT that you can work closely together with someone whose track record is… darker grey than most… is useful to know. It’s also very useful to consider that you have just brought in a potentially VERY valuable, and politically astute, new member. The Inner Circle always has to consider new recruits, Mr. Stark. We are, after all, the final arbiters of who gets to join.”

Harry nodded at Loki, “His ability to handle Mr. Pierce was impressive. The fact that you brought him in? Speaks highly of your judgement.”

Tony nodded, “Ok, I need to find out some things about how the Inner Circle will deal with me and my friends, and I need to ask a couple questions about the Inner Circle.”

Shaw nodded.

“So, obviously most of you are mutants. Gifted is a word I prefer, whatever. Equally obviously I’m not, and most of my friends aren’t. Is that gonna be a problem?”

Emma said quietly, “No. Not as long as they aren’t a threat to the club, mutants or otherwise.”

One of the people Loki had identified as ‘white something’ spoke up. “The dividing line between mutant and non-mutant is never as clear as people like to think. It’s easy to point to someone with obvious gifts and say they ARE one, but it’s very hard to conclusively say someone isn’t.” He smiled politely, “I’m not, either, as far as I know.”

Tony nodded slowly. “Understand that if anyone tries to go after my friends, especially the Hulk, in ANY WAY, I will take them apart, club or no club.”

Shaw grinned, “We all have our own fiefdoms, Mr. Stark. Your claims to the Avengers and Stark Industries personnel will be respected, unless you declare someone no longer under your protection. I expect the same respect for any of OUR territorial issues. Do understand that most of us have strong claims on something, or someone, in New York. It’s why I strongly urge disputes being brought to the council: it’s too easy to step on each other’s toes.”

Loki spoke up suddenly, “I have scattered interests in the region surrounding the small park where I last battled the Avengers- say, the buildings and people in the block facing onto it, and for another block further east. It would be simpler for me if I knew of any other interests in that area by the Council?”

Tony suddenly realized that included Loki’s apartment building and... One block further east? Wasn’t that Pepper’s yarn shop?

“Uh, Pepper has a favorite yarn shop in that area, and I think two of the Avengers’ favorite food places are in that area, so… I’ll go in on that. I also sponsor a bunch of charitable centers across New York…”

Shaw waved a hand, “Details can be discussed another time, although I would certainly HOPE none of our interests would involve an attack on a charitable facility; it would be very bad press!”

Fluffy blinked, “Yarn shop?”

“Pepper has a yarn shop she goes to. It’s apparently convenient and well stocked. Err… you knit, Fluffy? Or do you just chase the yarn?”

“I make Amigurumi,” Fluffy said happily.

Loki narrowed his eyes, although he didn’t REALLY look upset, “Ah, a spy from the land of crochet… or are you a double agent?”

She looked astonished and then delighted, “You?”

Loki pulled himself up in the chair very stiffly, “I’ll have you know that I not only speak yarn, I have personally visited Yarnia.”

Tony slapped himself in the forehead, “Oh dear God, it’s another one. Form a church already, the praise meetings are getting on my nerves!”

Loki looked over at Fluffy sadly, “He’s an atheist. I hope to convert him to knitting.”

“Crochet is cooler! Also faster. Come to the dark side, we have more stuffed cute figures! Also only ONE semi pointy stick to lose in the sofa cushions!”

Tony was staring back and forth in complete dismay, and trying to figure out a wittier retort, when he was rescued by Harry.

“I believe,” Harry said VERY firmly, “that we had agreed that there would be NO craft talk during Inner Council meetings?”

Tony looked at Harry, “This… this happens? Do I need to start this as a policy at the Avengers now? Natasha was learning to knit….”

Fluffy squealed, “YES!”

Gloria winced and looked sympathetically pained at Tony. Now Tony was worried.

Shaw raised his voice, “AS I WAS SAYING… you had another question, Mr. Stark?”

“I did?” Tony tried desperately to remember what it was; he kept looking back and forth between Loki and Fluffy and glancing at the pained looks of his fellow non yarn addicts. “Uh, hang on... kind of lost track here…”

Shaw sighed and rubbed his forehead, “I sympathize.”

Harry looked pointedly at both Fluffy and Loki, “This is why all craft discussions are to be kept SEPARATE from business. If you can’t keep your craft discussions from interrupting business, we will have to bar people from bringing projects with them too…”

Fluffy shrank in her chair. Tony noted that a few other people looked subdued as well.

“Oh, right… right…” Tony managed to bring the question back, “I was going to ask something, but .. err.. I’m beginning to wonder if maybe the fact that I don’t have a yarn addiction is a bigger issue…”

“PLEASE go on,” said Shaw, who suddenly looked a lot older. Funny how that seemed to happen a lot around Tony.

Tony took a deep breath and blurted out, “Anyway, obviously I’m Loki’s sub…” he paused to see reactions. Mostly there weren’t any.

“Is that going to be an issue?”

“Since you haven’t been displaying any generalized tendencies to be submissive to just anyone, or submissive in business,” Harry said, looking highly amused, “I don’t see why it would.”

Shaw nodded, “It doesn’t matter to the Inner Circle as a group, no. Some individuals may have issues– I wouldn’t know– and certainly the general membership is widely varied.” He looked over at Loki, “It does mean that the invitation to the Inner Circle would be dependent on your dominant partner being a member of the club, at least, since it’s assumed you would otherwise run into privacy issues. The usual method of dealing with a partnership issue is to offer the partner a position in the Council as well; either as a full member or as their advisor.”

“Gloria is my advisor!” Fluffy smiled, “She doesn’t have time to be on the council.”

Gloria drily remarked, “Someone has to run the business and keep you in cat toys, dear.”

Loki nodded, “So am I also being considered for a position on the council?”

Shaw looked at him, “I assume you would prefer a straightforward answer?”

Both Tony and Loki answered, “Yes.”

“We weren’t sure until the question of the bond was brought up. It seemed likely that you would not be STAYING on Earth, Mr. Laufeyson. In which case there is no point in having you on the Inner Council. If, however, you are….”

“For the foreseeable future, Mr. Shaw, Midgard- Earth- is my home.”

“Then yes, you are also being considered. Especially after the way you handled Pierce.”

“Speaking of which,” Tony spoke up. “Can I get a copy of that discussion? Because I may need proof that he’s Hydra.”

Harry nodded, “You can permit anyone you wish to hear it and see it. You may NOT permit anyone to make or keep a copy. Privacy rules.”

Tony nodded. “So what positions are we being considered FOR? Does it matter? Is there a meaning to it?”

Emma smiled, “Traditionally the highest ranking woman was the Queen, the highest ranking man was the King, and the other roles are simply interesting titles; however, it has become something of a tradition that the Knights are combatants, and the Bishops strategy advisors or lawyers.”

Loki looked thoughtful, “And the other pieces?”

“Not as clearly defined, and in truth it’s merely an American tradition, not a rule.”

Tony snorted, “That’s dumb.”

One of the people in the back said, “You just found out we even EXIST, Mr. Stark, and you think our system is dumb?”

“The Queen is the most powerful piece on the board. By ancient tradition it was the Vizier, the adviser of highest power to the King.” Tony shook his head, “If you’re going to go by Chess roles, the Queen- the Vizier- should be the chief strategist after the King.”

Several people looked a bit put out; Tony noticed that the women looked interested or amused.

“Rooks, being Castles – or elephant palanquins in some systems- could be associated with siege engines and technology pretty easily-“

Loki tapped him on the shoulder, “Anthony.”

“Huh?”

“Skáld mín, you are earning your title again, but now may not be the time.”

“Oh, right. Sure, well, anyway, I’m in if Loki’s in.”

Shaw had an oddly strangled tone when he spoke, “You sound like your father on fast forward.”

Tony wasn’t at all sure how to take that.

Loki bowed politely, “Then I believe you have matters to discuss amongst yourselves, but it need not be instantly. We, meanwhile, need a copy of that recording, and to speak to Lady Fluffy about her idea for solving our scepter issue, which IS time sensitive.”

Harry nodded, “Then this session is hereby closed. We will meet again tomorrow to discuss business; I understand some of our council will be able to teleconference as well. Lady Fluffy”- he glanced at Emma-“and Lady Frost will accompany our guests back to the club.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in comic canon Ned Buchanon was behind the Sentinel (mutant hunting robots) program, he turned on and attempted to kill Shaw (and others) when he no longer needed him. Shaw's group lived, at the cost of his fiance's life, and they killed the inner circle and took over. Obviously my canon is a bit different but similar.  
> and yes, Sebastian Shaw brought Howard Stark into the club. the details of how and why are never stated. since Shaw invited him? Shaw would have known him well. This is the first time he is talking extensively to Tony that Tony isn't being either distantly polite, or otherwise busy... 
> 
> and YES, Fluffy is a crocheter, and YES the inner circle had to institute a "no craft talk during meetings" rule or they didnt get any work done, and not just because of Fluffy. PS i want you to consider what FLUFFY might have to offer the Inner Circle for her to make it in.


	13. The Hellfire Club: The truth about Cats and Birds, part 1 - Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing a new player...

Once the four of them were back in the elevator- Gloria having remained behind to handle some other matters- Loki turned to Ms. Frost.

“Did you get enough opportunities to read everyone in the room?”

She startled, “You knew?”

Anthony sighed, “Loki told me to keep mentioning Hydra, and how much of a problem they were, and how much they had to NOT be in the club, and he’d do the same thing, so you could watch for any reactions.”

“Wow!” Fluffy stared at them. “You guys are tricky!”

“Yes,” Loki replied calmly. “At least I am; Anthony is actually painfully trusting and straightforward in most matters.”

“HEY!”

“You are…” said Ms. Frost amusedly as they exited the elevator. “I’m actually quite glad he knows so he can watch out for you.”

Fluffy looked thoughtful, “Ok, so why tell us that much about the scepter? Because you did, like tell us a lot, and hint even more. I hadn’t even known it existed.”

“Because if anyone was working with Hydra, they COULDN’T not react to being told their bait was worthless, and their ‘power source’ was a trap; therefore, Ms. Frost would be able to ‘hear’ the difference between them and the others,” Loki smiled down at Fluffy.

“You know a lot about Telepaths,” Ms. Frost said, frowning.

“Not really, but there are spells that simulate the gift. They tend to cause madness if overused.”

Anthony looked at Fluffy, “Ok, so what’s YOUR solution for the scepter issue?”

“I have to go investigate a few other people before they leave, Tony,” Ms. Frost leaned over and brushed her cheek against Anthony’s.

Loki fought very hard not to flinch or grab him away. Fluffy stared at them with her mouth hanging open.

“Monday?” Tony asked, tugging the end of her hair gently.

 _Calm, calm, calm, they are old friends, she hasn’t hurt him yet_. Loki double checked his shields for the tenth time, at least.

“Monday,” Ms. Frost nodded. “Fluff? Catch up with me when you can?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Fluffy answered, still looking stunned, as Ms. Frost walked away.

Once she was gone, Fluffy spun to Anthony, “Ok, seriously? Do you have any idea how WEIRD that was? She NEVER touches people. She barely touches my ears, and they aren’t even real!”

He shrugged, “She hates to touch skin. That’s why I got in the habit of tugging on the end of her hair. We go way back– like, seriously way back– and I touch people.– I touch people a lot– and she hated to be touched, so we worked out a kind of compromise.”

Fluffy was still making those ‘mouth open and close with no noise’ motions. Loki wondered how much of that was a practiced cat gesture that had become a habit.

Loki shrugged, “Your solution, Lady Fluffy?”

“OH! Yeah, come on, we have to go catch up to him.” She ran ahead of them back into the party.

They trailed along, watching Fluffy zig-zagging through the party, asking a few people things, and darting off in a new direction. Loki managed to overhear her say– apparently with a straight face– that she was bird hunting. Somehow that got her directed to another room.

When they entered the other room, the first thing Loki heard was: “Oh Jesus, Fluffy– lay off the wings, will you?” spoken in an exasperated voice by a tall, handsome man wearing insanely detailed feathered wings.

“Warren?” Anthony called out. “I had no idea you were here!”

 _Oh, that’s why I couldn’t see Fluffy…_ she was lying on her back at the man’s feet, batting at his wing tips.

“Tony?” He moved away from Fluffy, who bounced to her feet and pointed happily at him.

“Him, we need to talk to him… uh… not here?” Fluffy said cheerfully, sounding – _she sounded deliberately scatter brained, and no one knew she was the power in the couple… cute._

Loki spoke up before Tony could do more than frown confusedly, “Of course we do. Somewhere where the gentleman won’t have his wings batted at. Perhaps we could go elsewhere and Tony can distract the kitty with a laser pointer?” Loki smiled at the man, “If you wouldn’t mind?”

“Sure…” He looked between Tony and Loki a few times, and then walked over.

_The look was appraising, but familiar. Another old friend?_

Once he was walking with them, and Fluffy was racing ahead to show them where to go, Warren glanced at Loki and spoke quietly to Anthony, “If he’s a one night stand, I want his number.”

Loki grinned, “He isn’t, he has good hearing, and Anthony obviously needs to tell me more about his friends.”

Warren turned bright red… and his wing tips curled.

Loki raised an eyebrow and brushed Anthony’s hand. _“Those wings aren’t a costume, are they?”_

_“No.”_

They got to a small conference room; after the door shut, Fluffy climbed up and sat on the table.

“I didn’t know you two knew each other?” Fluffy sounded intent, so obviously something more was going on.

“The Worthington family invested heavily in Stark Industries back when Howard was still around,” Tony said with a shrug. “We’ve known each other for a while.”

Fluffy shrugged, “So you know the wings are real?”

Warren choked, “What?!”

“Yeah, Fluff, I know.”

Warren stared at Fluffy, “Since when do YOU know?” He looked worriedly at Loki, “And…”

Tony sighed, “Warren, meet my...” –Tony looked thoughtfully at Loki; Loki just grinned– “partner,” Tony finally decided on.

“Who can be trusted with anything Anthony knows,” Loki laughed, “even if Anthony hasn’t quite decided how to introduce me, yet.”

Warren looked him over thoughtfully, “Yeah, well Tony is a bit of a-“

“Overly trusting?” smirked Loki.

“HEY!” Tony spluttered.

Warren sighed, “Overly trusting; that’ll do, yeah.”

_It seems Anthony is well KNOWN here…_

Fluffy pulled her tail around in one hand and waved it at them like a wand, “I had no idea you guys knew each other… I mean other than like ‘we both belong to the club’ knew each other.”

“If by ‘knew each other’ you mean ‘got caught fucking at a fundraiser by both of our fathers’? Yeah,” Anthony said, sounding a bit tired.

“Oh dear God.” Warren put a hand over his face and sagged into a chair. “Did you HAVE to say that, Tony?”

“You did? Wait! This is hot! Hold on, I want DETAILS!!!!” Fluffy yelped and pointed her tail at Anthony.

Warren looked humiliated and moaned.

Anthony grinned, “Not much in the way of details, Fluff: Warren and I were both a bit drunk; he was kind of new to the gay sex thing; and neither of our fathers approved.”

Tony looked thoughtful, “Although I remembered the wings, that was cool, even if they shouldn’t work.”

“Shouldn’t work?” Loki asked politely. He’d found a beverage maker in the corner and was trying to decide if it would make tea.

Anthony glanced over, “Wingspan isn’t big enough to support human body weight, but he says he can fly.”

Loki was poking at the thing. “Well, that’s probably magic or something.”

Anthony came over, “That’s a coffee maker, it can make tea but it’ll probably taste like coffee.”

Loki made a face.

Warren sighed, “I prefer tea, although I’ll drink coffee.”

Anthony shrugged, “I told him, mixed marriages are doomed, he’s just gonna have to learn to drink coffee. Coffee is wonderful, he drinks tea.”

Fluffy cheerfully crawled off the table, “Tell you what, I’ll go get tea, ok? There isn’t enough cream in here for my coffee anyway.”

Warren looked at her, appalled, “YOU should never drink caffeine, ever!”

“How else would I capture the red dot?” she laughed and ran out of the room.

Warren stared at Anthony, “She knew. Did you know she knew? You’re being remarkably ok with everything.” Warren frowned slightly. “And who’s your partner? How have you been keeping him quiet, anyway, because I’d remember him if anyone had photos.”

Loki smiled at him, “Anthony hadn’t yet told me about you, if it’s any consolation.”

“If I tried to list everyone I knew….”

“How about all the exes you were likely to introduce me to tonight? You only mentioned Emma, and not by name, in the car.”

Warren laughed, “All of TONY’S exes? Here at the club? What’s that, Tony, like eleven?”

“I dunno, maybe?”

“How about limiting it to ‘people who have super powers’?” Loki said sighing.

“Err… I didn’t think about it?”

Warren sputtered, “You didn’t THINK about it?”

“What? We never had a relationship or anything…”

“The WINGS, Tony, how do you ‘not think about’ the fact that I have real wings?!” Warren looked stunned.

“Err… is it important?”

Loki shook his head, “Anthony, once again you miss the point: it’s likely something that worries him. He is concerned that people might find out and talk about it. Warren, if Anthony-“

Fluffy came back in with a tray full of tea cups. “Tea!” she exclaimed happily. Then she held up a container of cream, “Coffee additive!”

Loki smiled, “May I have some for my tea before you drink it all?” Loki carefully doctored his tea and handed the cream back.

Anthony shrugged, “Why is it important if he has wings?”

Warren stared at Anthony as Fluffy handed him a tea cup, “Because you’ve been avoiding me for YEARS?”

“What’s that got to do with wings?” Tony looked baffled. “Howard had a fit and told me to stay away from you, and I figured your dad did the same.”

“It’s been YEARS since then!”

“Duh? I’ve been BUSY! I inherited a whole company? Became an Avenger? You know, saved the planet? Also, you haven’t been around much, and, when you were, you stayed all stiff and formal and shit.”

“RIGHT!” Fluffy interrupted, “So, about the whole saving the planet thing… we need to talk about that, but first… Ummm… Warren, you thought I didn’t KNOW? I mean I HAVE gotten my hands on those wings, you know?”

“You never said anything…”

“Duh, us muties have to stick together… at least in the club, right?”

“YOU’RE a mutant?” Warren exclaimed, almost dropping his tea.

“Those are SO NOT real ears!” shouted Tony.

Loki frowned, “Gentlemen! Really, how rude.”

Fluffy rubbed up against Loki’s side, and made a purring noise, “I knew I liked you best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warren Worthington the third, is in comic book canon a member of the Hellfire Club. he is also Angel, one of the Xmen. Depending on whose version of the comics you read, he has been depicted as gay, bi, straight, and probably pink with polka dots... they re write him a lot. In my fa-fic he may be bi or gay- Tony wouldn't know or care- but he's NOT straight. oh and yes, he is supposed to be stunningly good looking in canon. Loki wouldnt care that much, but it obviously influenced Tony previously.  
> No, Tony didnt really care about the wings, except they just aren't big enough to carry a human weight, dammit.


	14. The Hellfire Club: The truth about Cats and Birds, part 2 - Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is not the same chapter from Tony's POV its a continuation...(from Tony's POV)
> 
> a note: the choice of language, and humor, fr my characters does not always reflect my own.,,sometimes it does.

Warren was still cleaning tea off his suit.  

Tony stared at her, “YOU… Fluffy… are a mutant cat-girl?” Loki frowned at him, hard.

“Uh… not that there’s anything at all wrong with being a mutant cat-girl!” Tony amended hurriedly. Loki went back to sipping his tea quietly.

“No,” Fluffy sighed. “I’m a mutant. That has nothing to do with my being a cat-girl.” She blinked and then snickered, “I’m trans-species: I wasn’t born with cat-girl parts; I choose to be a cat-girl. Don’t disrespect my life choices!”

Warren interrupted, “How long have you known I had real wings, and WHY THE HELL do you keep batting at them if you know?!”

Tony tilted his head, “Well, I mean she chases laser pointers; why wouldn’t she bat at your wings? Besides, you’re hot.”

“YEAH! Also I still want details. Iron Man and Angel sexing it up? Fan-fic or it didn’t happen!!!”

“Angel? Also I wasn’t Iron Man then, like not even close. Howard was still alive.”

“Are you just making that name up…?” Warren sounded worried.

“No! Geez, Warren…“ she slapped her forehead. “OK , let’s start over…

“Tony here needs a bunch of adventurers– who aren’t him, or the Avengers– to go get a dangerous magical artifact out of the hands of the evil villains in their heavily fortified lair…”

Tony grumbled, “When you say it like that, it sounds dumb.”

“...and it has to be some group with, like, paladins and rangers and shit because they have to hand over the evil artifact to be locked up or destroyed or something, instead of using it to take over the world like most people would.” She looked brightly at them. “So he came to the tavern and posted a notice!”

_How is this my life? When did my life turn into a D &D story? When?_

Loki looked thoughtful, “I don’t know about paladins or rangers, but that is a very good basic summary.”

“So this has what to do with me?” Warren definitely sounded worried, and Loki started looking at him oddly, too.

“Well, DUH, the only people stupid enough to go risk life and limb for an artifact of supreme power and still, like, hand it over to be destroyed are the idiot hero types! Warren is one of the X-men– they’re like all noble and stupid like that! Obviously they should do it!”

Tony startled, “Aren’t the X-men mutant terrorists or something?”

“Oh God, not you too!” Warren moaned. “We are NOT, we’re the GOOD guys–” He suddenly cut off and stared at Fluffy. “HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT?!”

“Um… was it a secret? Like, dude, how many hunk-bodies out there with big white feathered wings ARE there?”

“Most people don’t know I have wings!!!”

“Hellfire club? You show up, you have wings!”

Tony felt like he was watching a tennis match, and his neck was starting to hurt.

“Privacy rules! You can’t SAY anything!” Warren shouted.

“I didn’t! They’re members!!”

“Well,” Loki said calmly, “technically I’m not, yet.”

“Dude, that is so totally a given. I already voted for you.” she said.

“So…” Tony said as brightly as he could, “You’re a member of some good guy mutant group? Cool, because as Fluffy said, we have this THING… we need… to…” Tony hung his head and whined internally… “We need to ship the artifact off plane to be locked up in Asgard… God DAMN, this sounds like a role-playing game…”

“You’re shitting me,” Warren glared at Tony. “You totally are bullshitting me. This is like some weird practical joke.”

“No,” Loki said pleasantly. “It is indeed a powerful item, it MUST be gotten away from the people who have it, and unfortunately several of us have been under its influence and should not get too close to it.”

“So how does Fluffy know about the X-men? And why not hire some mercenaries through the club?” Warren looked kind of freaked, actually.

Tony spoke up, “I CAME here partly to hire mercs, only we found out that there was a lot more going on, and as Fluffy says, the odds are anyone I could hire that would be GOOD enough, and POWERFUL enough to take on the bad guys here? Would be able to make use of the scepter, and if they thought they could, they would…”

Loki sipped his tea and continued, “The problem is compounded because, while it appears to be a useful item of power, it actually is controlled by someone else, and is essentially a trap. A very tempting trap.”

Fluffy nodded and used her tail as a pointer again, “Right, so… heroes! You need a bunch of noble idiots– you know: self-sacrificing, non-power seeking, altruistic sorts– like them!”

“Sounds like Captain America,” sighed Tony.

“Who are you calling noble idiots?” Warren protested.

“I said noble, didn’t I? Besides, you guys are idiots. Otherwise, why are you, like, on the wanted lists for terrorists even though you don’t actually DO anything?”

“Because we’re mutants and people hate us!”

Fluffy snorted, “Like I said, noble idiots.”

“So why didn’t you tell me you were a mutant?”

“Why should I? Look, Feathers, in case you haven’t noticed… Hellfire Club? I mean, didn’t you guys like have a skirmish with us over some shit just like two years ago?”

“That… that was the club? It was?” Warren looked pale. “Really? I thought they just dressed like… No one said anything…”

Tony snorted, “Yeah, like infighting is new? Was it a fight outside the club?”

“Yeah…”

Tony sang out–Fluffy joined in halfway through– “If it’s outside the club, it stays outside the club!”

“Those guys were VILLAINS! I fought those guys!” Warren whined.

Loki patted Warren on the shoulder, “You can come over to the tower; Rogers would love to meet you.” He glanced wickedly at Fluffy, “Angel and Captain America?”

“I am writing that fan-fic tonight! I am!”

Tony sighed, “Seriously, evil artifact, heavily armed bad guys, etc. I will totally pay people, or make tech stuff, if we can just get someone to retrieve it and put it in a box so Thor can take it to Asgard.”

“Why were you talking to villains to do it?!”

“Umm… is that a trick question, Warren?” _Seriously, he’d been smarter than this before_. “Because everyone hires mercs through the club? I know your family has… and besides, where would *I* get   contact information for the X-men? Even if I knew they were good guys? As far as I knew, they WERE villains.”

Loki shrugged. “It needs to be done. It turns out you know Warren, and Fluffy speaks... highly…” – _Loki was smirking, the bastard_ – “of their qualifications, so obviously we need to talk to them.”

Fluffy cheered, “YAY! Problem solved, hero quest started! So? Go get stuff over with, then we can get back to Pinky and the Brain!” She held up a paw; Tony high-fived her. _It was practically obligatory, after all._

Tony looked at Warren, “So, how soon can I meet with the X-men and talk about equipping the adventuring team for their quest? I appear to be cast as the cranky wizard sending you off after the artifact in this one.”

Warren looked pained, “Uh, can I call you? I’m not in charge.”

Fluffy nodded, “Right, isn’t that the dude with the red visor?”

“How do you KNOW this?”

Fluffy waved, “Evil overlord minion; villains’ team, yo!”

Loki looked solemnly, “Ah, yes, I did get that from Anthony: apparently there is an Evil Overlord’s list I need to study. Would you happen to have a copy? Perhaps you can bring it to Knit Night?”

Fluffy looked happily at him, “Sure!”

They set about exchanging their information, while Tony handed off his contact information to Warren.

_Sometime soon, I’m going to be contacted by a group of not-as-evil-as-depicted mutants, to go capture the evil artifact from Hydra, so we can send it off plane, before getting on with the rest of the adventure._

_Oh yeah, and somewhere in there, the evil villain cat-girl Fluffy was going to meet Loki and Black Widow at Knit Night._

_When did this become my life?_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you may recall, WAY back in "Someone had to say it".. i mentioned that fan fic was a thing.   
> Sarah writes fan fic (Ranting Hat Lady). Sarah avoids fan fic for "real life supers" because she is afraid of drawing their attention...  
> Fluffy has no such concerns, obviously.
> 
> as to the X-men: in comic canon, through most of the time i was reading, they were believed to be bad guys by most legal agencies. (i never was sure why) I chose to use that here. From what little Tony knows about the X-men they are "some kind of mutant terror group" or something.  
> Fluffy knows they are grade A dorks... i mean "Heroes"...


	15. Tell me a bedtime story -Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's POV.  
> In which they wrap up some business and finally go get some play time in... maybe... assuming they stop getting interrupted.

Loki patiently explained, for at least the fifth time, that if Anthony really wanted him to carve his name into his skin, it would have to be done properly. Anthony seemed determined to take him to the Club playrooms and get it done immediately.

“I am not going to do a slip-shod job on anything that important, Anthony, I simply won’t.” Loki sighed, “If you want to play at the club, we can play– but it won’t be that.”

“I went to a MEETING for this! I went to a meeting without my COMPUTER GAMES for this!” Anthony pulled him up against a wall and started kissing him fervently. _Admittedly, Anthony could be very persuasive_.

Loki pulled Anthony back by his hair –which only encouraged him– and continued, “Yes, elskan mín, you were very good and you paid attention and you –mostly– stayed to the plan, but-“

Anthony started working his way down Loki’s neck.

Obviously he was going to have to do something to get Anthony settled down or they wouldn’t get anywhere.

“Alright, Pet, we will go to one of these playrooms and we will PLAY, but I am absolutely not doing anything serious until we get home, understood?”

Anthony grinned, because at some level he’d won –Loki understood that– and took his hand to lead him off to a room.

“Not so fast,” Loki shook his head. “Don’t you have a phone call to make first?”

“Oh, right. I’ll go to the call room and handle that. Wait here?”

Loki just smiled after him as he walked away. _Anthony was a blazing fire; he could only burn you or warm you, and nothing in between._

“Pssst!” Fluffy ducked her head around the corner.

“Yes, Fluffy?”

“Can I come over with Emma on Monday?”

“I haven’t yet found out what they have planned for Monday. I don’t see why you couldn’t.”

“Oh, meeting people and something about oaths, and a telepath being useful for checking people in Stark Industries? Something like that.”

Loki winced internally. _Wonderful, a telepath wandering around the tower, poking at things. It really was sensible to check, but still…._

“Ah, then you may attend as far as I know, although you might find yourself keeping me, or others, company while Ms. Frost is busy.”

“Cool, I’ll bring a project! Anyway, gotta go, voting on whether to kill Pierce sooner or wait for more IC members.”

“I would suggest sooner, but I admit I am not fully conversant with the politics.” Loki nodded. “I simply remind everyone that Director Fury is considered to be in Anthony’s domain, and should be left unharmed– if possible.”

“Oh? Um… maybe you should have Tony spell out who at S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the protected list?” Fluffy fidgeted.

Loki assumed that Fury had been a potentially target– although perhaps not, as she did fidget a lot in any case. “He went to the call room, can you-“

“On it!” Fluffy raced away.

Loki had time to have a leisurely drink, make a few new contacts, and evaluate several late arrivals, before Anthony returned.

“Sorry about that, had to go over things…”

“Have you changed your mind about­-“

“Nope.” Anthony was bouncing on his toes. “Playroom, no bugs, no spies, no interruptions…”

“No Jarvis to rescue you…” Loki purred into Anthony’s ear. Anthony melted gratifyingly.

The club apparently had several themed rooms that Anthony insisted on calling dungeons. One of them looked entirely unappealing to his tastes. It was full of metal objects, most of which looked hideously uncomfortable, and the only thing approaching a bed looked like a back ache waiting to happen, with a winch on each end.

“This one is modeled after a medieval or maybe a renaissance torture chamber; only with … you know… more fun and less bodily harm?” Anthony said, showing him someplace that did, in fact, look suitable to keeping prisoners.

“What is this?” Loki asked in distaste at a large sarcophagus-shaped metal contraption, filled with blunted spikes.

“It’s supposed to be an iron maiden– the band’s named after it. This one wouldn’t do you any harm unless you were, like, Thor-sized I think. It’s mostly for scares and atmosphere…” Anthony shrugged, “It’s bad history anyway. “

“And that?” Loki pointed to the… bed thing.

“THAT’s a real torture device– well, a replica. It’s a rack… the victim would get stretched to the point of damage. This one is a toy version, although… um... shorter folks have to be careful.” Anthony looked a bit sheepish. “For a tall guy it’s just a flat bed with restraint points, for me it might actually be dangerous, so don’t turn the cranks too hard…”

Loki shook his head firmly. “No. Honestly Anthony, this looks like someplace I would use to terrorize a prisoner, not actually do anything fun.”

“Terror can be fun.” He sounded dubious. “You terrify me sometimes-that’s fun.”

“It’s fun because you know I have other things in mind than maiming you, Hækkaði mín. Is there someplace more pleasant? Or at least less uncomfortable looking?” Loki felt his back twinge again just looking at that ‘rack’.

The next room was admittedly more intriguing.

“So, I have seen a number of these in catalogs… that’s a St. Andrew’s cross, is it?” Loki asked.

“Yup. This room is pretty bare bones, mostly play toys and furniture and some good wall points.” Anthony looked wistfully up at a few hooks on the ceiling.

Loki looked at them and thought about rope suspension. He really needed to study the more ornate ties and bindings; that workshop on the topic simply could NOT come soon enough.

He looked at the object that various catalogs had called a ‘horse’ and could see the possibilities… It looked pleasantly padded and quite secure. The idea of Anthony restrained comfortably while he could get access to him in any direction? Definitely pleasant.

“Admittedly, this room has potential; however, if you are to give me a tour, I would know what my options are.”

“Well, two of the other rooms are in use already,” Anthony said sadly. “That’s what we get for waiting. But we have one more of the soundproofed dungeons left.” He was muttering something about baby bears as he opened the last available door.

Loki looked around in some confusion.

“What makes this one of the dungeons? It looks like any of the other rooms off of the party?” Loki couldn’t see anything unusual about it, at least not immediately. The leather chairs, fireplace, bookshelf with a few books, and a heavy oak table all looked like something   you might find in any room here at the club.

“Truthfully, the bedroom we were in looked more like a playroom than this.” Loki walked slowly around the room, puzzled.

Anthony grinned, “Yeah, but THIS room is fully sound proofed, with a white noise generator near the door, sound baffles in the walls, the works. The bedrooms just have good walls. Also, all the furniture is completely sealed, can be disinfected with bleach if we have to, and all the bookshelves and wall sconces are rated for... well, I don’t know, but more than I weigh.”          

“Really?” Loki blinked a few times and then took a much closer look at the bookshelf, and the wall sconce above it. Yes indeed, they were designed to support serious weight if need be, and showed some marks of use.

He investigated the heavy table, which had ‘decorative’ iron rings along its edge that turned out to be quite solid– for mortal strength, in any case.

He looked thoughtfully at the fireplace, and the iron tools arrayed next to it.

Loki sat down in the –surprisingly –comfortable oversized chair in front of the fireplace and stretched his legs out; the chair was actually tall enough to make sitting in it a pleasure, even at Loki’s height.

_Oh, absolutely: this room is MUCH more to my tastes._

Anthony sighed, “Let me guess, this porridge is just right?”

“Porridge?”

“It’s from a fairy tale- a children’s fable- about a young girl, a hoodlum wanna-be, who breaks into this families house –it’s a fable, so the family are bears- eats their food, robs them, hangs out and does the nasty in their beds, including getting kinky in the baby’s crib, and then runs off when the family comes home and they look too tough to take on.”

Loki had the feeling he was being teased, but wasn’t at all certain how. “Oh?”

“Uh-huh,” Anthony nodded solemnly. _He was lying… but…._

“This is truly a childhood fable?” Loki put all the innocent confusion he could muster on his face.

“Yup, very common. Everyone knows it.” Anthony sounded so sincere it was painful

“Sex in the baby’s crib?”

“Yup,” he nodded, a lot.

Loki gestured to the door and sealed it.

Anthony jumped a bit, and then grinned and came over. “You like the chair?”

“Indeed, I do.” Loki smiled pleasantly, and reached out to pull Anthony over his lap; once Anthony was firmly in his grasp, the smile became less pleasant.

“So, we shall see how well your imagination can keep up with your pretense. I expect you to tell me the ‘childhood fable’ as you have described it.”

Anthony suddenly looked a bit worried.

_Too late, my pet._

“I’m not that great a storyteller…”

“Why, if, as you say, EVERYONE knows it, I will take the common tale, so long as it involves a hoodlum girl and sex in the baby’s crib…” Loki fastened Anthony’s hands together and bared his back and ass. He ran his hand over the expanse of skin. “So… do begin…”

Anthony sounded worried, “What if I ‘m not that good a storyteller?”

Loki smiled, “Why Anthony, really? I’m sure you don’t have ANYTHING to worry about, after all… everyone knows the tale….” Loki   slicked a finger and pressed it to Anthony’s asshole. “I’ll provide some inspiration for your tale telling, shall I?”

He moved a finger inside of him, holding him down with his other hand on the back of Anthony’s neck.

“Begin.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you would think Tony would know better than to bullshit/lie to Loki, really. ah well, its not like Tony didnt want an "excuse to be punished"... the problem is he didnt expect the WAY Loki would get payback.  
> P.S. i need to apologize in advance for what i am about to do to the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. seriously. I'm VERY sorry.
> 
> life has been a bit odd and busy, plus winter. i hope to keep my update schedule on time. comments are always wonderful!


	16. And this bed was JUST right (part one)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's POV - this chapter is nothing but smut, and the complete corruption of a childhood story.  
> nothing to see here, move along...

“You can’t–” Tony broke off with a yelp as Loki pushed a finger into him. “…expect me to tell you a story while you do this!”

Tony tried to struggle, but, bent over Loki’s lap with his hands tied together, and somehow having gotten attached to the leg of the chair– _fuck magic… possibly, literally ‘fuck’ magic_ – and Loki holding the back of his neck, there wasn’t much he could do.

Loki pushed another finger into him; Tony moaned.

“Oh? Very well then.” Loki leaned forward and growled in his ear, “I’ll stop.” His fingers stopped moving.

“You wouldn’t!” Tony pleaded.

“As long as I’m satisfied with your storytelling–and inspired by it–I’ll make certain to entertain YOU as well.” He sat back. “Or, I could just tie you down to that table all the way over there and enjoy myself by the fire.”

“I’m paying for that porridge crack, aren’t I?”

“Not at all, Anthony; I simply want to hear these ribald tales that children are reared on…” Loki was smirking at him… and NOT MOVING his fingers at all.

“FINE!” Tony growled. “Listen to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, adult version.”

_Thank God for all that smutty porn based on kids stories; I never thought my college watching habits would pay off…_

“so the number of bears in the story varies, but there was–“ Tony broke off with a gasp, bordering on a shriek, as Loki hit just the right spot. “You have the best hands…”

“Shouldn’t this fable start with ‘Once upon a time’?”

“Huh?” Tony blinked a few times.

Loki had stopped and was… _Aw shit, he was sitting there smirking down at me waiting for me to tell him a damned porno Goldilocks story…_

Tony sighed and started over, “Once upon a time,” – Loki began scratching his nails down Tony’s back in an encouraging fashion– “there… there was this blonde girl named Susan, or Jane, or something really white bread and waspy…” Tony trailed off as Loki pulled on his hair and started   moving a finger inside him.

“Anthony? You stop; I stop.” Loki smirked at him.

Tony gritted his teeth and continued, “But she wanted everyone to think she was so tough, so she got herself some white chick dreadlocks and tried to come up with a gangster name. Everyone just called her Goldilocks, though, because, you know, blonde and dreadlocks…”

Tony whined as Loki withdrew his fingers and forced his legs further apart. Something much larger than Loki’s fingers was moved up against Tony’s ass.

“You’ve stopped again?” Loki asked curiously.

Tony hurriedly continued, “Anyway, she hung out with this really pathetic group of Mean Girls casting rejects, who thought they were really, really tough, mostly because they lived in a gated community and didn’t have a real gang around–“

Loki was stretching him out with his fingers and measuring what he could only assume was a dildo against him. Apparently he wasn’t loose enough, because Loki added another finger and started doing… some… really…

“Anthony,” Loki said, slowing his hand motions down. “You really must learn to focus…”

Tony snarled and picked it back up.   “So one day, one of the kids at their private school pointed out that there was a group of houses way back in the forests behind the campus, and the girls decided to go trash the places because they could and they were jerks.”

“You sound as though this is more than a fable, gæludýr minn,” Loki chuckled.

Tony tried not to whine as Loki did VERY distracting things to his ass, “Why no, I didn’t go to school with kids just like this, why?”

“The best skalds put some personalization into their tales… Do go on.”

Loki continued stretching him out gently and Tony was trying desperately to push backwards onto his fingers or get some friction, but no luck.

Tony whined but continued, “Anyway, most of the other girls wimped out after not too long, but Goldilocks and her BFF Cindy had a dare going and neither of them was gonna chicken out and lose the bet.”

“You didn’t mention a bet, kjánalegt maður–what bet?” Loki sounded intrigued and– _OH God he was finally speeding UP…._

“What bet? Um... give the school nerd a blowjob, probably.”

“Probably?” Loki stopped moving his fingers.

“Definitely! Definitely, they had to give the school nerd a blowjob if they chickened out!” Tony yelled, “PLEASE!!!!”

“Begging is normally helpful, my poet, but you promised me a story…”

“Fuck! Um… So, after a bit, they came to this house that belonged to a family of bears– yeah, real bears, only they talk and have a house; it’s a fairy tale, it doesn’t make that much sense, but they were bears. “

Loki added more lube– _What the HELL was he up to?_

“So they were bears….” Loki purred and pressed the dildo up against his hole– _it felt big…_

“Goldilocks was a human girl; Cindy was too, even though she wore those elf ear prosthetics, like, ALL the time,” Tony panted.

“Anyway…” Tony lost all ability to speak as Loki started pushing something into him. It was big in spots and thin in spots and had ridges and nubs and– _Oh dear GOD that was…_

Loki stopped moving. “Anthony, DEAR,” –that sounded threatening– “you’ve stopped again.”

Tony whined. Loki just snickered at him.

“The two girls were human…” Loki prompted.

Tony whimpered and went on–he was pretty sure he sounded downright pathetic–“So the door wasn’t even locked and they just waltzed in.” Tony gurgled in the back of his throat as Loki managed to move the dildo in a few more inches. “Well…” Tony was making little breathy noises, which seemed to amuse Loki no end. “They were in for a shock, because the Bear family didn’t even have a decent TV set. Their house was full of books– AH! And an– OH MY GOD–old upright piano…”

_How long is this thing?_

“And… and… all sorts of neat stuff.” Apparently Loki had finally gotten it all in. Tony was rocking back and forth and making strangled noises.

“So I need to stop again?” Loki asked with an exaggeratedly kind tone.

“But… neither of the girls had any taste, so they were just looking for the music and the video games, and being pissed they couldn’t find any.” Tony got that entire sentence out in one breath. “PLEASE, Loki?”

Suddenly Tony felt the distinctive cold sharp feeling of a blade resting lightly against his shoulder.

“Now you need to keep talking, but hold VERY still…” Loki said as though that was even POSSIBLE… and then the God-damned bastard turned the vibrator on… _that huge, knobby thing was TWISTING in his ass…_

Tony howled, and tried to buck and move, but his legs seemed to be pinned and his arms were still fastened to the chair leg. He desperately tried to move, but just ended up rubbing himself all over Loki’s lap.

There was a sharp feeling on his shoulder; he thought he felt warm liquid move sluggishly down his back…

“I did tell you to hold still…” Loki sounded mock concerned.

“You fucking BASTARD,” Tony panted. “How could I hold still?” The thing was SQUIRMING inside him; Tony swore he could feel every bump on it.

“A better question, my dear: why aren’t you telling me my story?”

“WHAT?!”

_This was impossible. He couldn’t possibly expect me to…_

Loki reached down and stroked Tony’s cock once, then stopped. “Story?”

“Porridge…” Tony babbled, “They found porridge…”

“Tell me about it,” Loki purred and went back to playing with his balls.

“E-Eventually, they hit up the kitchen… and found one of those triple crock pots all set up full of porridge for a party or something.” Tony moaned and tried to figure out how to push into Loki’s hand some more.

“Well, one of them was REALLY spicy, and after Cindy tried some, she ended up chugging the beer she found in the fridge because she was TOTALLY a wimp about hot stuff. Goldilocks tried the next one, and it was bland, really bland, but she drank a beer because… hey... beer.”–Tony was getting dizzy; it took him a minute to remember that there should be three bowls of porridge–“A-Anyway, pot number three was the charm…” Tony started whimpering and begging uncontrollably, “PLEASE, Loki! –because it was just spicy enough–Oh God, more! Stop! Something! –to be tasty and make them drink more beer– AHHHHhhhh!– but-but not so spicy–Urk!– as to need–NEED!– them to camp… out… in the bathroom… and… beg for mercy! Begging! Seriously! Mercy! “

“You want me to stop? You do have a safeword, you know…”

“NO!!! NO STOPPING!!!” Tony was desperately trying to hump Loki’s legs, and get away from the vibrator up his ass–or get more of it, he really didn’t know…

“So… so… where was I?” _Dear God, if he had to start over…._

“They’d just eaten the bowl of not-too-spicy porridge.” Loki laughed, “Are you sure you know this story so well?”

“This… is... MY…version...” Tony whined and gasped.

“So, after they ate the porridge, then what?”

“Then Loki let the storyteller come? Please? “

“Maybe.”

“They… They… polished that off–Begging! Really!–and went upstairs.”

“Upstairs? Ah… to the bedrooms?”

“Yeah... Bedrooms…” Tony couldn’t even lift his head at this point. “I can’t…”

“Oh? Am I distracting you too much?”

A sharp feeling made curves and loops across his back; Tony moaned and bucked into Loki’s leg.

“What happened in the bedroom, Anthony?”

“Well, they… they… Cindy… and Susan… I mean… Goldilocks… found a stash of porn…” Tony felt the blade play across his back; he couldn’t tell if he was being cut lightly or not.

“Porn… yeah, porn… in the… big bedroom…” Tony trailed off into subspace.

Loki tugged on his hair. “They found porn in the bedroom?” Loki’s voice seemed to come from far away, somewhere beyond the desperate need to come…

“And… porn…. right… it was pretty… usual stuff– vanilla mostly…”– _Vanilla? Well, there were two girls; that was kind of vanilla–_ “with some less… le… lesbian…”–Tony was so very pleased he had managed to say the word finally; his tongue felt thick–“porn… for straight guys.”

Tony had been wrong. The dildo in his ass wasn’t twisting and spinning _the room was. Obviously. The whole room, and his body… an … Loki wanted… wanted him to continue?_

Tony was panting; he was moments from coming. “But... by... that… point… the… girls…” Tony made some random noises, and Loki pulled on his hair again. “Girls… girls? Yes, girls… were a bit… drunk–am I?”

“No.”

“Oh, I… feel… and… and… they… de-de-decided to… experiment…”

“Ooooh, experiment? Like this?” Loki laughed, and a sensation lashed across his ass like lightning. Tony came so hard, he opened his mouth to scream and no sound came out.

For a moment afterward, his mind tried to make sense of where he was; then he simply lay limply in Loki’s lap.

He distantly became aware that the vibrator was still twisting and moving inside of him… he whined.

“Oh, no, Anthony… you don’t get to stop NOW…” Loki purred threateningly, “We were just getting to the GOOD parts…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> continued in the next chapter. my apologies if you used to think of Goldilocks as an innocent bedtime story. (I never did)  
> i was going to add a disclaimer about how if this sort of chapter bugs you you can skip it and come back Monday or so, but honestly if it bugs you you didn't read my tags.... also why are you on AO3 reading Tony/Loki slash?


	17. And this bed was JUST right (part two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i don't normally do this, but TRIGGER WARNING for _discussion_ of kidnapping, rape, various criminal activities, etc in the story that Tony is telling (not detailed, but still)

Tony’s head was spinning. _Good parts? We’d just gotten to the good parts?_ His thoughts wandered back together, picking up pieces of thought as they meandered along, none too swiftly.

Pain just a bit too intense, because he’d just come, lashed across his butt.

_Riding crop. Definitely a riding crop._

“Yes, yes it is… Do continue…” Loki was laughing at him.

“That was out loud?”

“Yes,” Loki snickered.

Yup, Loki was laughing at him–the smug bastard. “Where… was… I?” Tony panted.

“The girls were in a bedroom, having found a stash of porn…”

“Right. Girls…” Tony took a deep breath and continued, “Cindy and Goldilocks were kissing each other and feeling each other up–”

“Like this?” Loki pulled his head back by his hair and leaned down to kiss him. Loki was kissing him deeply and the… thing–Tony finally managed to put the word ‘vibrator’ together in his mind– was still going strong. Loki let his head back down.

Tony made pleased, incoherent noises.

“Elskan skáld mín, those are very pleasing sounds indeed, but they do NOT advance the story…”

Tony gritted his teeth. “But they’d… never actually done anything beyond that,” Tony felt like he was pulling himself away from subspace by his fingernails. “…with another girl, and most of what they’d done with guys they’d done drunk, so it was pretty sloppy.”

Loki dragged his fingernails down Tony’s back again. Tony arched into it and moaned.

“So then what?” Loki asked.

Tony cursed him out in English, Italian, and French.

“Did the girls truly know all of those words? In so many languages?” Loki sounded so fucking damned innocent.

“The languages? Probably. Those words? Not a chance,” Tony panted.

“Anyway,” Tony tried to think about what the girls he had known would have been doing… “They spent a lot of time staring at the porn and making rude comparisons to the guys they knew.”

Loki murmured, “How rude.”

“They are rude!” Tony protested, “They broke into a house…”

“True. Do go on…”

“Of course,” Tony continued, “both of them were lying through their teeth, because they really hadn’t been that far with most of the guys, but, since neither of them wanted to admit that, they were lying a lot and trying to top each other, cribbing notes out of fan fiction and what porn they’d seen.”

“Ah yes, fan fiction,” snickered Loki. “Apparently a favored pastime of women. One wonders where they get their ideas for it?”

“Other women who write fan fiction, I think.” Tony was starting to have difficulty keeping focused again. _They were talking about fan fiction? Fluffy wrote fan fiction, Loki said women? Who else did he know who wrote fan fiction? Wait… how did Loki know about fan fiction anyway?_

“How…” Tony felt like his skin was tingling. “How do you… know about fan fiction? Fluffy wasn’t a surprise? But-“

He was snapped out of his syrupy haze by Loki somehow unfastening his restraints from the chair and pulling him upright.

“Perhaps you would think more clearly sitting up?” Loki asked as he moved him around to sit up on Loki’s lap, facing away from him.

“I’d think more clearly,” Tony muttered, “without that vibrator up my ass.”

“Oh?” Loki reached around and started stroking Tony’s cock. “Well, consider it good practice for your ability to focus…”

Tony called him a few choice names in Japanese.

“Language, Anthony…” Loki tightened his grip just enough to make it VERY clear he didn’t approve.

“Right!” Tony squeaked. “Anyway… Eventually, the girls staggered out of there, and found the other adult-looking bedroom. “

Loki went back to stroking him encouragingly.

“It was decorated in early Mom, so they both knew INSTANTLY that this was gonna have some pills or something, because their moms always had pills or booze, so they wrecked the place looking for the good stuff.”

“Midgardian mothers seem very different…” Loki murmured in his ear.

“Not all of them, but they didn’t have good role models.” Tony was indeed thinking better sitting up.

“They didn’t find any pills OR booze, but they did find a box stuffed in the back of the lingerie drawer with one poor, sad, lonely dildo.”

Loki ‘s voice was teasing, “Like the one in your-“

“NO… just a plain old boring one.”

“Pity…”

“Goldilocks said, ‘Shit, this is pathetic!’ and Cindy agreed, but they only had one more room to look through, so they figured: why not?”

“Indeed, why not?” Loki started biting along Tony’s shoulder and neck.

“Ummmmmmm….” Between that, the vibrator, and Loki’s hands, Tony lost all track of… everything, really.

Suddenly, Loki stopped doing anything and just grabbed Tony’s wrists. “My story?”

“S-Story?” Tony stuttered.

“The girls got to what I presume is the baby’s room, the one you said they did kinky things in?”

“I did?”

“Yes. You said it was part of the story. I’m waiting…” Loki leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “and so will you be… waiting.”

Tony resolved to learn how to curse him out in Asgardian. “So… they went into a room that looked like a baby room, with stuffed toys and bows everywhere, but all the furniture was just a bit too big for a toddler or anything. They opened the closet and it was STUFFED full of lace and ruffled baby doll dresses, like a little girl in a coloring book or something, all sized about right for a teenager.”

Tony paused.

Loki made an encouraging noise, and returned one hand to Tony’s dick.

Tony continued, “Cindy stared and finally shouted, ‘OMG!’ –Yes, she actually SAID the letters ‘O M G’– ‘It’s Lolita! I’ve totally seen this stuff online; it’s, like, expensive if it’s the real collectable shit!’ “

“What’s Lolita?” Loki asked

“A fashion, it started in Japan… It’s mostly older girls dressing up like Victorian dolls… I’ll explain more later… Please?!”

Loki started chewing on his neck again.

Tony gasped, but he continued, “Goldilocks sneered, ‘People wear this? It looks like baby stuff.’ She opened another wardrobe and found a big TV hooked up to a computer and video player. ‘FINALLY!’ she yelled.”

Loki wrapped an arm around him and forced him to stop writhing and rocking.

“This is cruelty. Seriously,” Tony panted.

“But the story was just getting good! If I really like it, you’ll get a treat…”

Tony managed to drag his brain back. “Cindy whistled as she opened a drawer, ‘This isn’t a bedroom, this is a kink room!’ She waved Goldilocks over to show her a drawer full of restraints and toys.“

“Ah…” Loki smirked, “But not as fine as yours…”

“Of course not!” Tony snarled.

“There were restraints in one drawer, mostly, with lots and lots of gags–” Tony broke off with a yelp as Loki tweaked a nipple.

“Intriguing, but if you were gagged however could you finish the story?”

“I will GET you for this!” Tony swore.

“AFTER you finish the story, perhaps.”

Tony started picturing Loki tied up. It didn’t help his focus one damn bit.

“In the next drawer, there were all sorts of toys. In the bottom drawer, there were porn videos and magazines featuring girls dressed up in the clothes they found in the closet.

“W-well, the two of them were still pretty drunk, so they decided to w-watch one of the videos.” Tony was breathing hard, but determined not to lose track again. “It was really kinky, compared to what they were used to, with a bear (the fantasy type, that walks and wears clothes and talks, not like a normal bear)   having sex with a human girl who was tied up and getting flogged. Well, the girls got all kinds of worked up, and finally Goldilocks suggested that they just get out the toys and try some of them out.”

“Would my skald like to be flogged a bit, hmmm?”

“Oh, god, yes. PLEASE, anything?!”

“Story first.”

Tony sagged. “Well, Goldilocks didn’t want to admit she wasn’t anywhere near as experienced as she said she was, and in fact had never had anything but oral sex, but she’d never said she’d done any anal… so she told Cindy she’d never tried anal because she was afraid it would hurt, could they do it with the Toys?”

Loki, still stroking Tony, twisted his hip up into Tony’s ass, driving the vibrator in another fraction of an inch.

Tony howled.

Loki laughed, “But anal is so much FUN! Especially with toys.”

Tony was twitching and jerking as he was instants from coming again, when Loki suddenly turned the vibrator OFF.

“YOU BASTARD!” Tony yelled once he could breathe again.

“You seemed distracted….” Loki purred at him. “So the girls hadn’t had anal sex?”

“Goldilocks hadn’t…” Tony snarled, “I said GOLDILOCKS hadn’t… And Cindy, who had actually done that, but didn’t want to admit to it, said she hadn’t either but claimed to have watched a lot of anal porn, so she knew what she was doing.”

“And then?” Loki was still moving his hand up and down slowly, steadily… TOO slowly…

“So they were fucking each other with the dildos…” Tony felt really odd, now that the ass plug wasn’t vibrating. He kept twisting and trying to get friction… he’d been so damned close!

“Eventually, it ended up with Goldilocks tying Cindy to the bed and using the strap-on, and Cindy was screaming and moaning so hard that they missed the bears coming home.”

 _This was INSANITY inducing!_ “PLEASE, Loki? Aw, c’mon… just…”

Loki sped up just a bit.

“Well, as you can imagine, Mr. and Mrs. Bear came home and the place was wrecked, and there’s noises coming from upstairs,”–Tony tried to buck into Loki’s hand– “so they ran upstairs and heard screaming and moaning coming from the playroom… “

Loki started doing things with his tongue to Tony’s ear.

 _It’s a trick, if I stop telling the story he’s gonna stop again_. Tony shivered and continued. “And they threw open the door and there was Goldilocks with one of the strap-ons fucking Cindy up the ass while she was tied to the bed…”

“Would you like me to fuck you hard while you’re tied to the bed?”

Tony moaned. _If I can just get to the end of the story–I have to find a good way to end this!!!_ “Goldilocks saw the bears and screamed bloody murder and jumped out the window, down onto the kitchen roof, and off into a leaf pile. She didn’t even take off the strap-on until she was halfway home.”

“Oh my! So what happened?”

 _Happened? The real fairy tale ends with the bitch running away, doesn’t it?_ Tony couldn’t be sure anymore.

Loki slowed down again. Tony almost started crying.

“G-Goldilocks expected the cops to arrest her, so she told all the kids at school that she and Cindy had gotten separated and she’d never found the house. Her friends told her to pay up and give the science nerd they always made fun of a blowjob, and she figured if she did no one would ever believe she’d trashed the house with Cindy… so she did.”

_There were a few times back in school, where I bet it really was a reason like that…_

“Poor guy was delirious and thought she liked him; he was heartbroken later…”

“Poor boy…” Loki sounded sympathetic, and started speeding back up again. “So what happened to Cindy?”

 _Who? Oh shit, yeah, uh…_ “Anyway, when Cindy didn’t show up next week, and no one reported anything about the house being broken into, Goldilocks started to worry, but because she was a selfish bitch she never fessed up, and no one ever saw Cindy again.”

“But what HAPPENED to her?” Loki gnawed on his other shoulder.

“Grgle!”

“I can stop…”

“NO!” Tony dragged his brain back into gear, “Cindy meanwhile ended up being kept by the bears until they sold her to the Big Bad Wolf who ran a human trafficking ring. Sad, really.”

“They what?”

“What? You expected a ‘just a trick’ ending or something? It’s a fairy tale, those things are gruesome as shit!”

“Apparently… this wolf is another known tale?”

“Yes, and you only asked for this one! PLEASE fuck me, or kill me, seriously, I can’t…”

“Don’t these tales usually have some kind of lesson?”

“IT HAD A LESSON!”

“Humor me,” Loki stood up suddenly, holding Tony as if he was a teddy bear. “And maybe I’ll stretch you over that table…”

Tony started talking very fast, “There’s a moral; Fairy tales always have morals:

“Don’t break into houses just because you think you can get away with it.”

“That’s it?”

“Also, you aren’t a gangster just because you think your suburban rich kid upbringing isn’t exciting enough.”

“Better,” Loki said, “but I’m still not certain…” Loki bent him over the table and attached his wrist cuffs to the legs.

“Perhaps you’re too tired to continue?” Loki asked innocently

Tony had some real venom in his voice when he answered, “If you don’t fuck me right now…”

“Surely there must be a better moral to your story…” Loki started pulling the vibrator out.

Slowly.

Very, very slowly.

Tony panted,“Ok, how about: Don’t be a dick like Goldilocks– if she’d just fessed up, taken her lumps, and done her slap-on-the-wrist jail term, Cindy would still be alive.”

“It will do.” Loki pulled it out of him, finally.

Loki insisted he scream “The Bears are coming!” on every stroke, although toward the end it devolved into “Bears!”

Tony would never, ever, admit that he finally understood the appeal of furries…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does anyone want me to publish the "story" as Tony told it as a separate work?  
> also, because my beta tester laughed so hard, i MAY end up writing up Tony's version of Little Red Riding Hood someday.


	18. Crash- Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> exactly what it says on the tin  
> Loki's POV, and a reminder that it is his point of view.   
> PLEASE read the notes after you read this.

Loki walked- well, carried in a more or less vertical fashion- his Anthony out to the car. It would have been simpler to pick him up completely and carry him, but he kept rather incoherently insisting he could walk; of course he could- he just needed someone to keep him upright and steer him. Loki was completely pleased with this, since he had spent some time putting him in that condition.

Seeing his colors on the collar and cuffs Anthony wore–that he CHOSE to wear– was affecting him more than he cared to admit. He wanted to tie him up in emerald ropes; wanted to hear him plead and beg for more–again; and he desperately wanted to carve ‘Loki’ into his skin until the man couldn’t undress without everyone knowing to whom he belonged.

_But now wasn’t the time or place, Norns be cursed._

He felt desperately tired.

_I really should go back to my sanctum. Until I moved properly into the tower and set things up I would still rest better there, but…_

His Hawk had warned that coming down from–or up from, he supposed– subspace and intense experiences could lead to a bad reaction if the submissive was not properly cared for. Loki was concerned that Anthony was not entirely well. He seemed pleased enough, but… _Perhaps I was too hard on him?_

_FOOL! He hasn’t eaten in far too long, that’s it. Well, there was little enough food at the apartment, so they would have to go to the tower._

As soon as they were in the car he called for Jarvis.

“Yes, Mr. Laufeyson?”

“Anthony has not eaten enough…”

“A nearly perpetual complaint, Mr. Laufeyson.”

Happy nodded from the driver’s seat, “Yup, constant issue. So, we heading back to the tower or you need me to find an all-night place? I have a list… this happens a lot.”

“Hey! I’m right here.” Anthony’s voice sounded a bit slurred _. Was that normal after the tale telling– and the begging and moaning– or was he unwell?_

“Yes, Anthony, and you have not eaten dinner, and it is now nearly breakfast. I was very foolish to give in to you without considering whether you had eaten.”

“You haven’t eaten either…” Anthony curled into his side.

“I am accustomed to it.”

For some reason, Happy groaned. Loki thought he heard Jarvis make a ‘tsk’ sound, but it might have been static.

“So, pick up food somewhere?” Happy asked in a resigned tone.

“Tower. There are some security issues,” Loki said firmly.

He picked Anthony up– over his protests– and took him up to the penthouse, fed him, and put him to bed. Anthony went out almost as soon as Loki had him on the bed.

He told Jarvis they needed to debrief to the team and to S.H.I.E.L.D. as soon as possible.

 _Something is wrong._ He felt itchy and restless and anxious and… _Those words all meant the same thing, didn’t they?_ He really needed to get back to his sanctum to rest, but Anthony needed him: he’d put him through so much; Anthony wasn’t comfortable being publicly submissive, but he’d had to be. Loki tried to sleep, but kept waking up to check on Anthony.

By morning, he was convinced he had made several very serious mistakes in handling things.   He tried to talk to Anthony, but mostly got muttered at as Anthony staggered off to a shower. _I should have waited, should have realized it was asking too much of him. I didn’t feed him enough and I KNEW Anthony didn’t take care of himself well. I –_

Anthony staggered out of his shower, clearly unwell. _What kind of an idiot am I that I can’t take better care of him than that?_

“Anthony, as much as I hate to–“

“Kfe? Jarvs, kfe, thntlkok?”

He wasn’t making any sense at all… Loki tried to steer him back to bed, but Anthony determinedly shook him off and staggered toward the main room.

Jarvis spoke up, “Mr. Stark says he will happily have a conversation with you after he has had sufficient coffee to make sense, Mr. Laufeyson.”

Loki followed him out worriedly and found that the entire Avengers team had assembled in the room without him noticing. _How utterly and completely appalling._

“We need to have a briefing, but Anthony is clearly unwell–” Loki broke off with a curse as Anthony got far enough ahead to stumble up against a piece of furniture.

Romanoff looked perplexed. “Seems normal enough– for him, anyway– for just getting up after a late night.”

Loki carefully took the cup from him– he could scarcely be trusted with water hot enough to burn him– and got him his coffee. After contemplating for a brief moment, he cooled it a bit before handing it to him. He then steered him over to the chair. It had arms: Anthony wasn’t stable.

“I apologize, I pushed him too far.” Loki bit his lip. _It was actually painful to have to admit to being this incompetent in front of these people…. Worse, Thor was here._

“Whr? Nsense, hd gret tm!” Anthony blinked owlishly at them.

Loki sighed, “AND he needs breakfast still.”

Rogers looked highly embarrassed –although that seemed to be his usual state these days– but said reasonably enough, “He’s always like that after a bender or all night in the lab; a couple cups of coffee and some real food and he’ll be fine. Doesn’t he keep food in the place?”

“Imrt here,” Anthony grumbled. “Stp tlking ‘bout me. Jst need coffee.” He looked down sadly at his empty cup and held it out. “More?”

Loki got him another cup of coffee and tried to tuck a blanket in around him, which he promptly grumbled about and kicked off _. Idiot._

His Hawk had been watching them both with an oddly suspicious look on his face. “Yeah, well, debrief involves S.H.I.E.L.D.? We’re expecting Fury or Coulson to arrive soon with a couple of others who need to be vetted and added to the bindings if they pass.” He cocked his head to one side like his namesake, “So why don’t we just make sure Tony there gets some food while we wait?”

_Curse the man for not keeping a real kitchen._

“Hey, Cap?” Hawkeye was using that calm command voice again; It made Loki worry that something was very badly wrong. “Can you go down to the little breakfast place and get… a lot? Like now?”

“Sure, but…”

“Now.” There was firm command in the tone that time, and the military in Captain Rogers responded instantly.

“Thor, he’ll need more hands. I need you to go help him.” His Hawk shot a glance at Romanoff and jerked his head toward the men. She got up and started steering them off firmly.

Meanwhile, he told Banner, “I think there’s something slightly better than Pop Tarts in the kitchen. Tony usually makes protein drinks for the lab; bet we can rustle up enough for two…”

“Two?” Loki blinked. _Anthony should have two?_

“Yeah, one for him, one for you.”

“I’M FINE!” Anthony shouted.

_He shouldn’t get so worked up. He was still unwell, and Midgardians were so damn FRAGILE._

“Anthony, we will get you some more to eat, and–“

“Would you stop acting like I’m sick for chrissakes? I just needed some coffee…”

_Banner and Romanoff were looking at Anthony worriedly; they obviously could tell he wasn’t alright. They must think hme a VERY poor choice for him, that I couldn’t even take care of him for one night– Banner, especially. Banner was obviously much better at caring for Humans, being mostly one himself, and a doctor. If I wasn’t so selfish I would let Banner take care of him…_

“Sir.” Hawkeye sounded firm and commanding and not at all subordinate. “You need to sit down on the sofa and have some tea.” He glanced at Banner who jumped as though stung and went to get… tea, Loki supposed.

“I may be a poor caretaker, my Hawk, but I–”

“That was not a suggestion.”

Loki blinked at him in confusion.

“Tony,” Barton said levelly. “You need to get your bratty ass out of that chair and over next to your Dom on the sofa RIGHT FUCKING NOW.”

Anthony was over on the sofa before he said, “Hey! I don’t take orders from-“

Loki scolded, “Barton! He’s not well, he should be resting!” Loki tried to wrap him up in a blanket again, and Anthony started to complain.

“BOTH OF YOU need to shut the fuck up,” Hawkeye said with such absolute authority that Loki shut up.

Loki stared at Barton. “Did you just?”

Anthony just stared at Barton without speaking.

Banner hesitantly held up a cup of tea, wordlessly asking permission. Barton nodded and indicated with his eyes that he should hand it to Loki, which he did.

Romanoff was grinning in a way that promised blood. “Nice to have you back, Clint– have I mentioned that lately?”

Barton sighed, “Yeah, Nat, you have.” He flashed a smile at her, “You know I love you.”

Anthony said confusedly what Loki was thinking, “I thought you said you two weren’t a thing?”

Barton raised an eyebrow. “If you don’t know you can love someone without it being a sexual relationship, you need way more help than I thought, Stark. “

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ok, so… one clueless, bratty, obnoxious, rule-pushing, oblivious, submissive masochist… and one clueless, conflicted, semi-sadistic Dom… both of whom   have severe issues, are love starved, affection starved, and attention starved… Both of whom have issues with ME… And of course I have to be the grown up. Fuck my life.”

 _Barton obviously had issues with me and was upset that Anthony was taking priority. I shall simply have to make it clear that I WILL make amends…_ Loki cleared his throat, “My Hawk, I know I have wronged you and I will make amends as best I can, but Anthony needs–“

Barton cut him off, “TONY doesn’t need anything. He’s fine.”

“I SAID that!” Anthony howled.

“Barton, don’t encourage him–”

“YOU’RE not fine, Loki,” Barton said with a sigh. “It’s not Tony who’s unwell, it’s YOU.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, i may be late with some updates this week across many of my fictions.   
> i have depression year round, but winter makes it worse (yes i treat it but unfortunately i react BADLY to most anti depressants.) in addition i got a job and despite my physical issues i really need the income so... but its taking up a lot of time and energy. the last straw this weekend was the 4th largest amount of snowfall on record for my area. digging out HURT.
> 
> ok, now about this chapter:  
> a lot of people talk about sub drop, where a submissive becomes shaky and needs a lot of support after a scene. it happens. for some people it happens a LOT for others not so much. TOP drop is a thing. Tops can need aftercare too. but Loki doesnt know enough about the scene, OR HIMSELF to recognize that.  
> he is also just plain overworked, over stressed, tired and basically running on fumes. He had to be "ON" and run the show at the hellfire club, and he desperately needs to be off.  
> but  
> he is responsible, and he cares, and he doesn't think he "should" leave Tony and do what he RECOGNIZED that he needed to do in the first place: go home and sleep, read books, and re charge.  
> idiot. (smiles affectionately at the character.)
> 
> for anyone saying this is out of Character for Barton?  
> he has a track record of disobedience to authority even in the face of "we can make you disappear foreverr" levels os shit.   
> He disobeyed direct orders from his handler he LISTENS to, including bringing in Natasha, (and telling Phil he wouldnt shoot Thor if the order didnt get given soon.)  
> FIRST thing he did under the scepter was start taking COMMAND and directing everything. yes under Loki. but still, he told his magical commanding officer what to do without hesitation.


	19. Crash -Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's POV  
> this overlaps chapter 18 and then continues on past those events.  
> a reminder, this is not an objective POV .

Tony had been having a wonderful time, coming down from an incredible evening– it actually made up for the meeting, and the stares, and everything– when he first noticed that Clint was somehow being more… there? …than usual.

_Loki was being kind of obnoxiously sweet, but then he did that sometimes. The guy was SUCH a caretaker; I mean, he tucked people in with blankets. He tried to tuck ME in with a blanket._

Clint suggested that Steve and Thor go get breakfast, which was a great idea, but DAMN he sounded like it was important or something. Then he started telling Bruce to make protein shakes.

 _Da fuq?_ _All I needed was some coffee, and ok, some food would be good, but I wasn’t sick_! “I’M FINE!” Tony shouted.

Loki was acting all mother hen. “Anthony, we will get you some more to eat, and–“

“Would you stop acting like I’m sick for chrissakes? I just needed some coffee…”

_Bruce and Natasha were looking at them like something was wrong, but there wasn’t anything wrong– was there?_

“Sir.” –and DAMN, Clint sounded military all of the sudden– “You need to sit down on the sofa and have some tea.” Clint just glanced at Bruce and the man jumped to go get tea!

_What the HELL?_

“I may be a poor caretaker, my Hawk, but I–”

_LOKI? The guy in the Wikipedia article under the term ‘caretaker’? What the hell kind of looking glass had he fallen through…._

“That was not a suggestion,” Clint sad flatly, levelly, and in a tone that made Tony simply… stop.

“Tony,” Clint said. “You need to get your bratty ass out of that chair and over next to your Dom on the sofa RIGHT FUCKING NOW.”

 _Oh, yes sir, of course…_ Tony was over on the sofa almost instantly. Clint wanted him to move and it was very important… _Waitaminit_ … Alarm bells finally started ringing in Tony’s mind. “Hey! I don’t take orders from-“

Loki scolded, “Barton! He’s not well, he should be resting!”

Loki tried to wrap him up in a blanket again. _Whadya mean ‘I’m not well’? And_ _what was WITH him and the blankets_? Tony opened his mouth to protest and…

“BOTH OF YOU need to shut the fuck up,” Clint said.

Tony shut up. All protests that he didn’t obey other doms just… died. This was Clint, this was a teammate, and Tony TRUSTED him… and that was command voice.

Loki shut up for a moment and then spoke in a sort of shocked fashion: “Did you just?”

Bruce held up a cup of tea weakly. _Dear God, he was looking at CLINT for permission to hand over the tea?!_ Clint nodded and indicated with his eyes that he should hand it to Loki, which he did.

_When the FUCK did Clint…?_

Natasha was grinning. _She should have fangs, really._ “Nice to have you back, Clint– have I mentioned that lately?”

Clint sighed, “Yeah, Nat, you have.” He flashed an equally fanged smile at her, “You know I love you.”

“I thought you said you two weren’t a thing?” Tony blurted out.

He raised an eyebrow. “If you don’t know you can love someone without it being a sexual relationship, you need way more help than I thought, Stark. “

Tony shut up. _Clint wasn’t happy… DAMMIT!!! I AM NOT HIS SUB!_    Tony gritted his teeth and tried to get his brain to work properly and not just… sit… here. Cuddled up with Loki…

Clint’s orders would be easier to disobey if they didn’t seem like such a wonderful idea; also, Loki was petting his back.

Clint pinched the bridge of his nose. Tony valiantly refrained from mentioning that that was a typical Fury gesture.

“Ok, so… one clueless, bratty, obnoxious, rule-pushing, oblivious, submissive masochist… and one clueless, conflicted semi-sadistic Dom… both of whom have severe issues, are love starved, affection starved, and attention starved….Both of whom have issues with ME… And of course I have to be the grown up. Fuck my life.”

 _Did I have issues with Clint?_ Tony couldn’t think of any… _Other than the fact that he was ORDERING ME AROUND and shit… and… um… doing a really scary good job of it, actually._

Loki cleared his throat, “My Hawk, I know I have wronged you and I will make amends as best I can, but Anthony needs–“

Clint cut him off. “TONY doesn’t need anything. He’s fine.”

“I SAID that!” _Seriously! At least Clint was taking his side, I mean Geez!_

“Barton, don’t encourage him–”

“YOU’RE not fine, Loki,” Clint said with a sigh. “It’s not Tony who’s unwell, it’s YOU.”

“What?” Tony turned his head to look at Loki: Loki looked okay…. _He wasn’t well?_

Loki protested, “Anthony needs–”

Clint walked over to the sofa. He stood just out of arms reach for Loki. “YOU are having an issue, Loki. You’re PROJECTING that onto Tony. Tony is fine.”

“Is THAT what’s going on?” Bruce murmured.

“What?” Tony repeated.

Clint looked at them both with an exasperated groan. “You two had a pretty intense day, right?”

Tony nodded.

Loki said, “Yes, intense would be a good description.”

“And that intense evening follows pretty much right on the heels of your first real fight as a couple, AND Tony getting your collar?”

Loki looked baffled, “Yes, but Anthony–“

Clint–motherfucking badass Clint– cut Loki off cold: “TONY is fine right now, but he isn’t the only one that was there, SIR.”– _and there was ‘Sir’ being used as an insult again; rhymed with ‘idiot’ apparently_ – “YOU had a fight too. You had a fight with someone you are actually in some kind of mind link with. THEN you had your slave–“ Clint changed terms when he saw Loki bristle–Tony didn’t like the term but he was used to it– “Your pet… make a collar and wear it for you, and that’s a BIG DEAL…

“Then you BOTH went to the club, and yeah, Tony was dealing with stress and all, but you were dealing with a totally new situation, AND trying to be in charge.”

Tony stared at him, and then looked back at Loki. “Oh.” Tony felt like a complete idiot. “You were, weren’t you? You seemed so… at home.”

Clint sighed, “He probably was. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t having to be ‘ON’, Tony.”

Loki, very slowly, “Anthony isn’t unwell? You told us about his needing extra support…”

“He did. He might again someday–probably WILL someday– but right now, YOU need to take some time to take care of yourself, which you always neglect in favor of taking care of your subordinates.”

“Seriously, Loki, I’m fine.” Tony tried to project reassurance… _I haven’t heard or felt a damned thing through the link in…_

Tony frowned at him, “You’re shielding me out.”

“You needed­–“

Tony glared at him. “Last time you cut me out like that you almost collapsed.”

“SIR? Tell me what you need.” Clint managed to sound like he was demanding a report from an errant subordinate, while calling Loki ‘Sir’. _He really WAS Loki’s Pepper._

“Errr… to get back to my sanctum and rest?” Loki sounded sheepish. “But we truly need to report a number of things, it’s actually quite urgent.”

“Can you hold it together long enough to report enough that Tony can finish the debrief… if I tell the new folks coming in they will have to go stay in a secure hotel and wait until Monday?”

Tony jumped in, “Actually that would be great; we have an expert coming in on Monday!”

Loki looked like he was considering. “Anthony is well? I don’t need–“

“Tony is fine. We will look after him if you feel better that way.” Clint nodded at Bruce: Bruce nodded at Tony.

Tony looked worried at Loki, “I’m fine, babe, seriously. If it will make you feel better, I can promise to stay right here in the tower or with Bruce or Clint until you get back?”

“You could come with me.” He did NOT sound enthused, just worried.

Clint asked, “Do you WANT Tony with you? Or do you just think you SHOULD want Tony with you when you ACTUALLY want to go home and have some alone time?”

Loki winced.

Tony nodded, “Your version of ‘go the fuck away and leave me alone in my lab’ time. Got it. We handle the report, and AS SOON as you’ve finished what you need to, you head home. I can have Happy take you–“

“We are being watched. I can get home on my own.” Loki sounded tired suddenly, “As long as you’re certain?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Tony sort of chewed his lip. _How do I convince…_

 _He’s ‘on duty’ because he thinks it’s his responsibility…_ Tony reached up and thumbed his collar: it went plain gold. He did the same for his cuffs.

“Playtime’s over anyway, Lo. We have the whole good news, bad news thing to do, and then you go home and rest and I’ll work on hacking into the communications we need.”

Loki looked relieved. Tony noticed Clint… stand down? I guess that’s the best term.

The elevator door opened, Tony wasn’t surprised to see Thor and Steve back, but he was a bit surprised to see that Agent–Phil– was with them.

Clint stepped back from Loki just a bit. “You deserve a sound chewing out, Sir,” – Tony resolved to start cataloging the many nuanced ways you could insult someone by saying ‘Sir’ at them–“but right now, you’d just be more convinced you needed to stay and handle shit. You NEED to go home and get some rest after the sit-rep.”

Loki opened his mouth to ask, and Clint answered before he could get the words out, “Situation report.”

Clint leaned forward and got all commanding again–and Tony was shoving down every single reaction he was having as hard as he could– “ONCE you are feeling better, SIR… I plan on having some words with you about this.”

Steve and Thor were sort of hanging around back near the elevator looking uncomfortable, and pretty obviously wondering what they’d missed.

Phil spoke up. “Don’t forget to trash his office and mess up his filing system.”

Clint flinched almost comically. Loki and Tony exchanged a really amused look.

“Boss?” Clint turned around and looked suddenly entirely UN-commanding– it was weird. He didn’t look submissive or anything, it was just… gone. Like he was suddenly just Hawkeye, normal dude sniper I snark with again.

“If you’re going to treat him like that, Agent Barton,” Phil said, sipping on the apparently ever-present cup of coffee, “I expect you to be just as thorough as you ever were with me. You usually trashed my office, messed up my files, cursed at me about the mission, S.H.I.E.L.D. in general and several agents in specific, then threw yourself on my couch until I managed to fix the problem or you got tired and decided to vanish into the ductwork.”

Clint looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. Tony noticed Loki looked just as fascinated and amused as Tony felt.

“I don’t know his filing system well enough to trash it without doing real damage.”

Phil actually cracked a smile, although he hid it pretty well with the coffee cup. “No excuses, Barton.”

Clint just grinned at the man like it was his birthday. “No excuses, boss.” He coughed and seemed to remember the rest of them were there. “Right. Food first, then debriefing –major shit-storm, from the sound of it– and then Loki needs to go home for a while… so the new folks will have to be put up in a hotel until Monday.”

Phil just nodded, “I’ll handle it,” and walked off with his phone.

 _I have clearly been missing a LOT_. Tony looked over at Loki and could tell he was thinking the same thing. _This was going to be a really interesting conversation someday– pity they had to have a very important debriefing first._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope to be getting my new glasses today,(yes again, they messed them up last time) which will hopefully reduce the migraine frequency. IF thats the case i should be able to get back to my usual update schedule next week. thank you for your patience.
> 
> comments are still/always wonderful.


	20. Debrief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> exactly what it says: Tony and Loki debrief to the rest of the Avengers.  
> PS. the conversation with Pierce they replay is in Chapter 6, if you need to refresh your memory.

It was a remarkably quiet breakfast, although Tony almost fell off the chair when Steve made a geek joke:

“Well, some of us ate a lot earlier, so this is second breakfast.”

“Do you actually _know­_ that that’s a Tolkien joke?” Tony asked suspiciously.

Steve rolled his eyes, “Yes. I saw the movie, too.”

“Holy shit, there’s hope yet,” Tony muttered. “Have you seen Star Wars?”

Natasha interrupted, “No religious arguments over breakfast.”

Steve looked terribly confused. “Religious?”

“Trust me,” Natasha muttered.

Bruce just snickered.

Pepper arrived a bit later and chatted with Phil happily while everyone finished their food.

Phil cleared his throat, “So… the unsworn folks have been dispatched to a hotel until Monday; we’ve eaten; Agent Barton is threatening someone else’s office and files for a change–and can apparently wrangle Starks fairly well, too; and the debrief of the trip to the terribly interesting club is apparently more involved than we thought.” He managed to say this as though he was reporting on traffic conditions to a delivery service or something.

Phil sipped his coffee. “Does that about bring us up to date?”

Tony sighed, “Yeah, basically. Did you have to STUDY to deliver all your lines like that? Or is it a gift?”

“Even a gifted musician has to practice…” Phil raised an eyebrow. “So… about the club meeting?”

Tony looked at Loki. “How about if I give the summary and you add in anything I miss?” He thought, _‘And fill in the details about Pierce.’_

Loki nodded.

“First of all,” Tony stated, “some of this information is strictly private: need to know only, and ONLY people under the bindings unless cleared with Loki or myself.”

Tony waited until everyone agreed before continuing, “I ran into a very old friend, who I knew was a member: I did NOT know that she is part of the group that RUNS the club; needless to say, that proved to be very helpful. She will be arriving here, along with another club member, on Monday to help go over personnel at Stark Industries.”

Pepper frowned, “How will an ex-girlfriend help-“

“Not a girlfriend, Pep; not like that. Both of our fathers thought us getting together would have been a GREAT idea,” Tony rolled his eyes. “So that pretty much took that off the table.”

Pepper, and a few others, looked enlightened about that.

“If you look us up, you may find some photos of me escorting her to a party, or to the club, way back when… we covered for each other.”

“Covered for what?” Natasha asked.

“Covered for me playing submissive or seeing people my father wouldn’t have approved of– like other guys. In her case? I just thought she was either seeing a girl, or not seeing anyone and wanted some privacy. It turns out to be a bit more complicated than that.”

“So how can she help?” Phil raised an eyebrow at him.

“Because she’s a telepath.”

And that was the end of any reasonably orderly debriefing.

Tony and Loki managed to get across the basic facts: that the Hellfire Club turned out to be very accepting of mutants, as long as you were useful to the Club; that yes, Tony had known Emma since childhood, but hadn’t known she was a telepath until recently; that the Inner Circle- the higher-ups running the show- were PROBABLY mostly mutants, but in any case they met with them…

When they got to ‘Loki was pretty well guaranteed membership’ and ‘Yes, they knew who he was’, however, the whole thing bogged down.

Steve, of course was shocked, SHOCKED!

“I’m shocked! How could they admit him, knowing who he is?”

Clint looked sort of dubiously at Steve, “They are a club where Tony thought he could hire supervillains; wouldn’t it sort of follow that they might be ok with them?”

“But…”

Tony frowned and continued, “In fact they have been very accepting of our relationship, and this all went much more smoothly than I expected, ESPECIALLY since I hadn’t expected them to recognize him.”

“Technically,” Loki said– he sounded tired and wasn’t even doing a good job of covering it up– “they found out who I was partly from a prospective member recognizing me –and he’s a problem we need to discuss– and partly from Ms. Frost getting a telepathic brief from Anthony. It’s not that THEY recognized me.”

“Right,” Tony nodded. “Lo, do you want to go over the problem now? So you can cut out and go get some rest?”

“Probably for the best,” Loki sighed.

“I was recognized by someone who is a high ranking member of Hydra.” – Loki talked right over the interjections– “He was a prospective member, not yet approved, and now he never will be. The Hellfire Club, as has already been stated, does not take kindly to spying. I managed to get him to admit to his Hydra membership, and his plans to use the Club for information, in range of a recording device, and YES we were permitted to bring a copy of that recording with us, although it cannot be copied or leave our control.”

Natasha looked like her opinion of Loki was slowly going up, so Tony helpfully chimed in, “Seriously! Got him to admit to the whole thing! The Inner Circle was VERY impressed. It’s one of the better references for Loki’s membership…”

Loki looked fondly at him and gave him a quick hug around the shoulders.

“However, the man is of high rank in Hydra, unfortunately of very high rank within S.H.I.E.L.D., and recognized me. Obviously I had to come up with some excuse for my presence there with Anthony. I led him to believe that I had either tricked or controlled him. I also strongly hinted at my interest in the scepter.”

Phil nodded, “So who is he?”

Clint and Natasha looked like they were contemplating auto accident statistics happily.

Loki shrugged, “Alexander Pierce.”

Phil choked; Natasha went blank; Clint swore violently; Steve openly gasped.

Tony looked over at Bruce, one of the people looking confused, “He used to be Secretary of Defense; now he’s in a position of some authority in S.H.I.E.L.D, but–“

Phil cut him off, “The recording. Now.”

Tony nodded– _Phil actually sounds shaken; this must be even worse than I thought_ – “Jarvis?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Play it.”

The video capture was surprising good for a hidden camera, and the audio was superb. It mostly showed the corner Loki and Pierce had been speaking in, so the rest of the club’s privacy was intact.

_Wow. Loki did an amazing job leading that guy on. No wonder the Inner Circle was so impressed: he played him– but good._

The conversation was brief, and devastatingly clear.

Tony said, as gently as he could, “I wish I didn’t have to tell you, but hiding from it never helps.”

“We have to tell Fury immediately,” Phil said quietly.

“Do you see why I couldn’t go immediately home to rest?” Loki asked. “This was already far worse than you thought, than I thought. In addition, they now believe that I have some way of manipulating Anthony that may be to their benefit. In any event, their plans have just become less predictable.”

Tony nodded. “Which means it’s a good thing I am making contact with a group that should be able to retrieve the scepter. “

Tony looked pointedly at around at everyone, especially Bruce and Thor– the non S.H.I.E.L.D agents– “They may need back up from us, however, especially if Hydra gets more protective about it. They should be calling me today, and I’ll try to get this going as fast as possible.”

Steve looked at Tony thoughtfully. “You may have a point. Bruce and Thor won’t be much help dealing with an internal S.H.I.E.L.D. issue unless it gets to combat. They could probably help a LOT with retrieving the scepter from Hydra. But where do YOU fall in this?”

“Right now, my priority is making sure any Hydra agents here at Stark Industries are identified and isolated. I can’t watch your backs until I know mine is safe, and you can’t use my tech help until I can be sure it’s not compromised.”

Everyone nodded.

“So Monday we deal with a clean-up operation here, and we can double check the agents you want to bring in at the same time. Hopefully I can talk to the retrieval team soon, as well. Then I get to work hacking systems and prying information out of secure systems. Based on what I find? We may need some specialized equipment.”

Phil nodded. “Any further briefing will have to wait, I’m afraid. We can catch up with anything else as we go.”

Phil went off with his phone, looking like he wanted to be doing ANYTHING other than contacting Fury. The other agents were rapidly talking and making plans.

Tony turned to Loki, “So, that’s it for now. You need to go home and rest.” Tony leaned into him, “You WILL call me if I can help?”

“Of course. You aren’t upset?”

“I think… I think I could have been,” Tony admitted. “It’s easy to feel rejected, you know that. “ Loki nodded. “ But I get it. Really. After a while, I have to get away from people and go work in my lab or I’ll bite someone.”

Loki nodded and spoke quietly in Tony’s ear, “I’ll be back as soon as I want to bite you in a fun way, not because I’m annoyed by people breathing near me.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Tony grinned.

Then everyone scattered to the busiest, most stressful, and least enjoyable Sunday Tony remembered since the Avengers had existed.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oddly, it looks like i will be posting about Monday... on Monday.


	21. Atypical - Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Opinions of the characters are just that; their opinions.  
> discussions of Aspergers and Autism. see notes

Loki spent most of Sunday sleeping, reading, avoiding answering his email, and trying to knit. He felt like burning something down or blowing something up might help, but he was fairly certain it would cause more problems for Anthony with his friends. He was coming back from a fruitless search for ‘food I feel like eating’, when he ran into Sarah. Somehow, he ended up in her apartment for tea.

Sarah frowned at him, fussed a lot, got him cookies–which she took great delight in calling ‘biscuits’ for him– and asked him what was wrong.

Loki explained that he was just very tired, cranky and out of sorts, and nothing seemed to help… and he accidently blurted out that he was absolutely not allowed to blow up or set fire to anything, as it would cause problems for his boyfriend.

Eric/Loki flushed, “Oh dear, did I actually say that out loud?”

Sarah laughed at him, “Yes, dear, you did. How ARE things going?”

 _Thankfully, she took it as a joke… I think._ “Fairly well, actually. Some of his friends don’t like me, but the rest do–“

She interrupted, “Have you had a really stupid, meaningless fight yet?”

_Telepathy… Knitting DEFINITELY causes telepathy…_

She just looked at his expression and nodded, “Ok, so you have. How did you deal with it?”

“Deal with it?”

“Have you sat down and talked about why this fight happened? What each of you said that hurt feelings? Stuff like that...”

“We… we really haven’t had a lot of time, actually, but no. We... um... we did have a rather unexpected talk later about… about our family issues.”

She nodded, “You both have family issues?”

“Rather frighteningly similar ones, given the differences in our culture and upbringing.”

She frowned and nodded at the same time. “Have either of you gotten counseling?”

“It… wasn’t an option for me, and his father would never have permitted it. After… well, after I don’t think…”

 _How to explain this without getting her involved?_ He sat there frowning over his tea and cookies. She knitted quietly, refilled his tea occasionally, and just let him think. It was amazingly refreshing.

“Sarah,“ he said finally, “the problem is I don’t know how to explain this without… without getting you involved in a lot of personal business I don’t think my boyfriend would appreciate, and some issues I really don’t feel comfortable talking about… at least not yet. “

“Just make up something that you think explains it in other words, Eric.” She said brightly, “Like your knitting story!”

Loki choked on his tea.

Sarah jumped to her feet and came back with a ludicrously embroidered dish cloth to wipe his clothes with. “Oh dear, Oh dear! Let me guess, I wasn’t supposed to know that?”

“Um… no?” Loki stared at her with wide eyes. “How did you?”

She sighed, “Eric, you never asked much about me. I’ve always been weird. I either see too much of what people are doing and saying, or I don’t see any of it. It’s been a problem my whole life. I’m sorry, but… you either have to club me over the head with things, or I’ll pick it up despite everything; there’s really no in between.”

“Are… are you actually a telepath? A mutant?” Eric’s voice sounded tiny and weak in his ears; he wanted to scream, he also wanted to cry on her sweater.

Sarah blinked. “OH! No… well... not that? I guess we could be mutants, I never thought of it that way, but no, we aren’t the way the big, showy people are– I mean, none of us do that even though we kind of do have superpowers I guess.” She said that all in one fluttering breath.

“I may just be tired, Sarah, but… can you… errr… unpack that a bit?”

“I’m not a mutant like those people. I may be a mutant, I guess, I don’t know. I’m not a neurotypical , though; I’m an Aspie.”

“What?”

“Asperger’s syndrome is the specific diagnosis. Although that came later. ‘Borderline autistic’ was what was on my charts as a kid.”

Loki frantically searched his mind for those terms. He’d read them on the internet…

“I… vaguely recall reading about that online, Sarah. Isn’t that supposed to be some kind of illness caused by vaccines?”

She moaned. “You can’t get all your information from the internet, Eric! At least let me find you some better webpages?”

“Sorry?” he said sheepishly.

“Short form: first of all, it’s a BIG umbrella diagnosis, really, and we are NOT all alike. I’m a borderline case anyway, according to the doctors. Secondly, the whole vaccine thing? Some doctor was trying to make money marketing his own version of a vaccine so he tried to prove the old vaccine was unsafe. He faked a lot of information, but once the idea took hold it just won’t die.”

She shrugged and went over to a bin marked ‘stitch markers and stuff’ and pulled out a box. When she opened it, it was full of small foil wrapped balls that did NOT look like stitch markers. She handed him one.

“Not a stitch marker,” he said smiling.

“Ferrero Rocher, only mixed chocolate I like. I have texture issues.” She set up a fresh pot of tea and continued, “Look, I’m much older than the ‘epidemic’ they say was suddenly caused by the new vaccine schedule, and some of my other Aspie friends are older than I am. We aren’t new, the diagnosis just keeps changing. Also the internet helps most of us get along better.”

“Do you mind my asking how?”

“A lot of us have issues with facial expression and tone of voice. We don’t read it the way the neuro-typical do.” She shrugged, “Anyway, text messages and internet and print and things are simpler. If someone wants to make a face, they send an emoticon and it has a translation guide!” She smiled happily, “Lovely things. Anyway, some of us sometimes read too much, too well. Like me.”

“Ah. I take it the… ’lack of filters’ is also?”

She nodded, “Typical. We either blurt things out or don’t talk. Mind you, it’s a big group… not everyone is alike. We do tend to work in computer fields, or editing, or things. You see, the plus side of our weird brains is that we notice patterns, and breaks in patterns, like no one else.”

_Noticing patterns… noticing breaks in patterns… she WAS astonishingly good at that._

“So you noticed that the story I told… ?”

“Was you telling a make-believe story about something- and no, I don’t know what- that really happened and dressing it up.” She grinned, “I did that a lot as a kid; luckily, my mom didn’t mind. It’s what got me into writing, actually. My mom, and the librarian near us, said my stories were very good, so they encouraged me to write.”

“It’s a bit unnerving to find out how well you see through me, sometimes. Is Ms. – I mean Carol?”

“Carol? OH! No. No, she’s a different kind of weird, not like me. She’s ok though.” She nodded a lot. “But anyway, this isn’t about me! I’m fine. YOU need someone to talk to, and I’m here, so?”

Loki took a deep breath.

...

“Well, once upon a time, there was a young prince named Eric…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know many people with a diagnosis of Autism or Asperger's syndrome. Sarah is, as she says, a "borderline case" meaning she has some traits but not others. She has chosen to accept her diagnosis and to identify with that. IS she? like many syndromes and umbrella diagnosis, you can argue it all over.  
> as an aside: Its always interesting to see someone whose diagnosis was pretty clear as a kid, as an adult, because they have learned much better coping mechanisms.
> 
> Loki has no clue, and has only stumbled over the term a few times on the internet.


	22. bedtime story- Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erik (aka Loki in civilian guise) talks to Ranting Hat Lady (Sarah)

“This seems pretty stupid,” Loki/Eric muttered. “After all, you know it’s a real story.”

Sarah shrugged, “So? Tell me about the issues you two are having, or tell me a story and dress it up. Either way, you really need to talk about it.”

“How do you KNOW I need to talk about it?”

“If you didn’t you wouldn’t be sitting here, trying to figure out a way to talk to me about your problems; you’d be out with your boyfriend, or home reading, or something.”

Loki chewed on his lip a lot. _Dammit, I can’t find any argument with that. There really is nothing keeping me here…_

Loki sighed. _Might as well try it…._ “So I grew up in the house of the King and the Queen, with my older brother the Crown Prince…”

He looked at her suspiciously to see if she would laugh at him: she didn’t; she just sat there knitting and listening.

“Prince Eric never really fit in, but he didn’t know why. He was as tall as everyone else, but much slimmer… still, there were others in the court that were slim of build… His hair was nothing at all like his family, but there were others in the court with the same color hair, and being young… and growing up with it… he never questioned it.”

Loki muttered, “Although I should have.”

Sarah pushed a cookie at him. “Go on…”

“Prince Eric loved his parents and his brother, but never felt like his father paid as much attention to him. In fact, he never felt like his father really thought all that highly of him, but… he was a distant man, even to his brother the heir, so Prince Eric kept trying and hoping to be worthy someday.”

_My voice is absolutely NOT going to shake. It’s a story. Just a story._

“The Queen was a kind woman, and Prince Eric would have spent all day with her if he could, but there were duties, and schooling, and a lot of… sword training,“– Loki hoped Sarah would translate that to football or something– “which Prince Eric was never as good at as his brother.”

Loki struggled a moment to find a suitable translation and finally remembered a fairy tale monster that might do… “The kingdom was plagued by Ogres. The King had made war on them in his early life, and they had been pushed back to the edges of the kingdom, but every child was raised with warnings about the Ogres. The Crown Prince had sworn to one day rid the world of the last Ogres, and Prince Eric of course swore to help him.”

The image of Thor and himself swearing to rid the world of every last Jotuun flashed before his eyes _. I tried, didn’t I? I didn’t think I could survive the fall from the ruins of the Bifrost…._

Sarah nudged him with a tea cup. “More tea?”

“Oh… yes.” Loki blinked a few times. “Where was I?”

“Establishing a future enemy in the Ogres, I think.” Sarah nodded, “A long standing feud of some kind.”

“Yes. Yes it was... is…”

Loki sipped tea for a minute and continued, “Time went on, and it was… unkind… to the younger prince. Accusations, both true and false, began to plague him, because he was quiet and scholarly, unlike his brother and the ideal of a prince…”

Sarah winced and patted his hand briefly. “Not a very accepting family?”

“No, and not a very accepting kingdom,” Loki said sadly. He continued, “The Queen never said anything too harshly, but she warned the young prince that the kingdom was not kind to scholars. If Prince Eric was only as large and fierce and… princely… as his brother, then no one would say anything about his choice of companions, but since he wasn’t, he should take pains to appear as… princely… as he could in other ways.”

Loki trailed off.

Sif, fierce and tall, and pining for his brother, Thor; Thor completely ignoring her, she had turned to Loki. It meant nothing to her– she was just trying to make Thor jealous, or perhaps to strike back at him for ignoring her. Loki convinced himself that he hadn’t done anything with her out of respect for his brother… or self-respect, since he didn’t want to be anyone’s second choice. In truth he could play the role, but she left him cold.

Fandral, though. How long had he laughed and jested with Fandral– gone out drinking with him and ended up with a wench on his lap, while Fandral went off with two more– before he realized that he’d always felt more attraction for HIM, than THEM.

Then the disastrous marriage alliance to Sigyn. He shuddered.

“Eric?”

Loki realized that it was probably the third time Sarah had spoken.

“Sorry, lost in thought.” He realized with horror that his eyes were wet. He grabbed a napkin.

“Yarn fumes,” Sarah said firmly. “And dust.” She handed him a tissue.

Loki nodded, “Obviously.” And did his best to pretend she hadn’t seen any tears.

Sarah sucked in her lower lip. “I take it… allergies… aren’t princely.”

“No. The King would never have stood for it. Princes are supposed to be strong in battle and stoic of their wounds; sniffling over… yarn fumes… would be unacceptable.”

Sarah nodded, “Lots of folks have parents like that, not just Princes. So many people in general want everyone to be plastic.”

“Plastic?”

“Like a fake doll face, all the time. A sort of perfect customer service smile, and no real issues or sick kids or upset or anything.”

Loki nodded, “Dignity and Princely bearing.”

Sarah made a face. “Ick. Not that I like it when people are emotional AT me, but… I can throw yarn at the walls or I can bottle it all up until I explode. There’s really only so long someone can pretend everything is ‘fine’ before they snap.”

Loki had a flashingly clear recollection of Sarah screaming ‘Get a room!’ at them.

“Yeeees… I recall.” His eyes crinkled up and he was trying hard to pull his face out of the smile and back to neutral. He was pretty sure he failed.

Sarah looked up after a moment. “OH!” She flushed a truly astonishing blotchy red.

“Um. Well, yes. Being frightened...” she said, hiding behind her coffee cup and flushing more.

“You are a brave warrior, Lady Sarah,” Loki said solemnly, “to face two such knights in battle and tell them to get off your lawn.”

Sarah stared at him and mouthed ‘get off my lawn’ a few times, then dissolved in giggles.

Loki yawned and then looked abashed. “Oh how rude! I am not yawning at you I assure you…” he hurried to explain.

She smiled, “It’s late, and I have work Monday morning…”

“Oh dear,” Loki winced. “I have a number of appointments.”

“You come by any time, dear, and finish the story. Or pick up a new one, or just have cookies,” Sarah nodded firmly.

“I shall indeed.” He bowed over her hand, “Lady Sarah the Bold…”

She giggled, “Prince Eric the Kind.”

“No one ever called me THAT before… I was usually ‘the sneaky’ or something….” Loki blinked at her a lot.

“Well, dear, let’s face it; you didn’t grow up with the most… observant… family, did you?”

“Maybe my mother…”

“Oh, well… Moms,” she shrugged. “They’re like me: they either see it all and right through you, or they can’t figure you out at all. I think that’s just a Mom thing.”

“I shall have to take your word for it, Brave Sarah.”

She giggled at him as she showed him out, sending along more cookies. “For lunch, and give some to your boyfriend.”

“I shall…” Loki imagined telling Anthony that the cookies came from Ranting Hat Lady. _Perhaps I will tell him AFTER he eats them. Well after._

His sleep wasn’t as restful as we would have liked, but at least he got some.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yarn fumes was my husband's favorite line.
> 
> personal note (not story related)  
> sorry about the long absence, i got a job which paid the bills but ate my writing time, and then just got fired (for illegal reasons and yes i am having to follow that up, it wont help me, but it may save some future folks grief)  
> i already have depression and anxiety so as you may imagine i am a bit of a mess right now.
> 
> comments help though, and i enjoy hearing from people!


	23. Monday Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> starting back after a long hiatus, The cookies are canon and from the last chapter.

 

Monday morning and Pepper had cleared her schedule to meet Emma.  Tony was sweating; Pepper was rearranging paperwork in some arcane fashion.

_This is either going to be a really good idea, or the disaster I was always afraid of.  Loki had said she might bring Fluffy: Fluffy crochets; Pepper knits.  Wasn’t there some sort of issue there?_

“Pepper?  Is there some sort of issue between crochet and knitting?”

“What?”Pepper was giving him one of those looks like he wasn’t making any sense again.

“I keep hearing about some kind of issue between knitting and crochet…” Tony tried to explain

“Oh.  Well, there is sometimes some friendly rivalry.  Knitters are better of course...” Pepper smiled at him and patted his arm reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I never let any crocheters in the building.”

Pepper looked at his stricken expression and cracked up. “JOKE, Tony… it’s a JOKE.”

“Fluffy crochets,” he muttered.

“Fluffy?  Wait, the… the girl in the cat suit at the charity party the club threw a while ago?”

“Yeah, she may come down with Emma.  She crochets.”

“The girl… in the cat suit…” Pepper was staring at him and enunciating really clearly, as though she thought he was drunk.   “Is coming… to a business meeting...”

Tony nodded

“With Emma Frost…?”

Tony nodded again and opened his mouth to say something, but Pepper cut him off.

“The cat suit girl… the one who lay on the floor and chased a martini glass?” Pepper sounded upset for some reason. 

As Tony was trying to explain, the elevator opened and a cluster of the Avengers came into the room, along with Fury.

“It was a laser pointer, it was my fault.” Tony hadn’t MEANT to aim Fluffy at the tray of Martinis…

“Of COURSE it was your fault, Stark,” Fury said drily. “And it doesn’t surprise me it involved lasers.  What did you do now?”

“NO! It was last year!”

Natasha frowned at him and asked, “What did you do with lasers last year?”

“Not lasers! A laser pointer!  I hadn’t meant to aim Fluffy at the martinis!”

“Alcohol is really bad for cats…” Steve said hesitantly.

“Fluffy isn’t a cat, Fluffy is a cat-GIRL,” Tony groaned and sank into the sofa.

Pepper frowned and said, “Apparently Tony invited this girl in a cat suit to come to a top secret meeting.” She put her bag down on the table and crossed her arms. “Tony, you CANNOT invite people to these meetings just because they amuse you. I thought you understood…”

Fury and Steve started lecturing in chorus with Pepper and Tony lost it.

“I can invite anyone I want for any reason I want! It’s my tower!”

 

 ---

 

Loki was rehearsing apologies as he walked to the tower.

He wanted to be sincere, but he absolutely refused to allow them the slightest chance of superiority.  He wasn’t going to show weakness…. Still, he had behaved poorly…

“Good Morning, Jarvis,” he sighed as the elevator doors closed.

“I feel I should warn you that the morning is somewhat less than good so far, Mr. Laufeyson.”

“Oh, what now…” Loki tried not to sag into the wall.

“There appears to be an argument in which no two people are discussing the same topic,” Jarvis said, with a primly disapproving tone.

“Ah?”  Loki asked, “Can you let me off on the upstairs floor?”

“Of course, Mr. Laufeyson.”

Loki slipped quietly out of the elevator and came down the stairs invisibly. 

The majority of the Avengers, plus Fury, were having some kind of argument involving lasers, Russian discipline, Anthony’s previous use of unauthorized military grade equipment, cats, business files, and ownership of the tower, all at once.

Dr. Banner, Bruce, was sitting aside at the “bar” with a cup of tea.  Loki faded into visibility and walked over to him.  He was fairly certain Romanov noticed, but no one else.  Dr. Banner looked at him dubiously as he sat down next to him.

“Cookie?” Loki  asked him  as he  started putting some of  Sarah’s cookies on a plate.

“That’s pure sugar,” Bruce stated as he looked at them. “It’s not very healthy for you.”

“That’s right,” Loki nodded.

Bruce took one and bit into it.  A surprised look melted into one of pure bliss. “YOU… did not buy these.”

“No, they were a gift from a friend.”

“Is she single?”

“Why do you assume she? I understood many men baked in this country.”

“For these I would marry a guy ‑ is HE single?”

Loki couldn’t help it, he laughed.   Most of the Avengers startled and looked over.

“As it happens,”  Loki  grinned at him, “SHE is single.”

 “LO!” Anthony bounded over happily. “Are you ok? How are…” He stopped and stared at the plate. “You… have cookies?”

“Yes, Anthony, I have cookies.” Loki held the plate out. “I was specifically asked to make sure you got some.”

“That sounds suspicious,” Romanov said, looking at Loki with one eyebrow raised. “Who knew you were seeing Tony?”

“She doesn’t know I am seeing HIM, little Spider.  She gave me cookies, and told me to take some to my boyfriend.”

Romanov, and several others, got looks of understanding.  Barton immediately took a cookie.

“Have to taste test these…” Barton said as he bit into a cookie. ”Ooooooomyyyyyygoddddd this is…” he trailed off chewing.

Steve was one of the last to get a cookie, after watching everyone else settle into quiet bliss.

“Oh!  Real butter and fresh vanilla!” Steve exclaimed happily after he bit into one.

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at each other.

Anthony cleared his throat. “You, uh… know something about cookies, Cap?”

The Captain just raised an eyebrow.

 Loki decided to take advantage of the cookie-induced lull in the argument. “I assume that Ms. Frost and Fluffy haven’t arrived yet?”

“Fluffy?!” “Who?” “Wait, I thought that was a cat?”  There was a sudden babble of questions .

 “Why is Miss Frost bringing a CAT?” Director Fury cut through everyone else.

Anthony gritted his teeth. “I TOLD you, Fluffy is what she is CALLED.  She’s a cat GIRL, not a feline, and she is arriving with Emma today.”

“Why didn’t you SAY that, Stark?” Fury sounded annoyed.

Loki took the cookie plate out of Anthony’s reach before he could throw it.

“I TRIED TO!” Anthony snarled.

Perhaps luckily for everyone, at that moment the elevator chimed, and Jarvis announced, “Miss Emma Frost, of Frost Industries, and Miss Sandra Morgan.”


	24. Wiggle wiggle wiggle pounce, part one – Tony’s perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avengers, meet Fluffy.   
> Oh yes, and the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, Emma Frost... her too

Jarvis announced, “Miss Emma Frost, of Frost Industries, and Miss Sandra Morgan.”  as Emma and Fluffy walked in.

 

Tony had never seen Fluffy in mundane clothes. She looked like any other high powered business woman in New York, except for being in dark blue instead of black.  She was wearing a suit with pants, while Emma was wearing her usual white jacket and skirt _and showing off those legs to perfection, dammit_.  But, all in all, Fluffy looked entirely unlike her usual self.

_Sandra? Her name was Sandra, right._ Tony glanced at Loki and tried to fix her name in his head.

_I’m going to slip up, and I’m going to pay for it._ Tony winced.

“Do you want me to remind you?” Emma said with a smile, as she walked up to Tony.

“You are an intrusive fink, Frosty…” he grinned. “Yeah, you better.”

 He reached out to tug her hair by way of greeting, and was suddenly struck by the fact that both ladies had very pale hair ‑ although Emma’s was a natural platinum blond, and he was pretty sure Fluffy had hers dyed true white at a salon somewhere. 

She swatted his arm away lightly. “Watch it, excessive touching,” she grinned at him. “It’s windy out and I have enough hair spray in my hair to act like a glue trap.”

Tony made exaggerated gestures of being unable to pull away from her hair, while she smirked at him.  Pepper looked… _jealous? Maybe?_ The rest of the team just looked boggled.

“Anyway, Emma… Sandra… let me introduce you to the team.”

Loki stated firmly, “Some minor business first.”

 

Loki explained the oaths, and the implications. Tony was surprised that Fluffy‑ Sandra‑ didn’t make a fuss over the oath swearing or the blood, but he figured Emma was coaching her. All in all, it was done fairly quickly.

 

“Now that that is done,” Loki said, “we may go through the introductions.”

Fluffy spoke up: “So everyone here is under oath? And no one can fink us out, right?”

“Correct,” Loki said, at about the same time Tony said, “Right.”

“So everyone here knows we’re mutants?”

Emma smiled faintly, “Everyone here knows I am: Tony told them.  I’m not sure they knew about you.”

“But you’re cool with it?”

Fury cleared his throat. “I don’t care what labels get put on you as long as you keep your word and do a good job. Period.  However, I was obviously not completely informed.”

“Oh, well we both are.” Fluffy shrugged, and then peered around the room. “So I gotta ask, where’s L’Oréal?”

Emma choked. “Sandra!”

Natasha suddenly looked around the room and started to snicker. Most of the rest of the team looked blank.

Tony realized who she meant a beat later, and grinned widely. “Thor? He hasn’t gotten here yet today. We expect him in later.”

There was a sudden burst of coughing as people realized who she meant.  Loki looked momentarily blank and then laughed.

 

“Emma, Sandra, let me introduce you…” Tony started with Pepper.

Emma dealt with everyone in her usual politely business like fashion, while Fluffy kept looking hellishly distracted. Tony thought she was side-eyeing Clint and Steve a lot, but he couldn’t be sure. 

“Shall we get started?” Emma suggested. “Everyone saw us come in, and I believe Tony and Ms. Potts showing the business investor around would be rather ordinary looking.”

Pepper nodded firmly.  Tony thought Pepper might actually be warming up to Emma a bit.

“Right, so let’s go,” Tony stated, waving toward the elevator.

“Oh, not me, no way.” Sandra said firmly. “You guys left me up here to start getting paperwork done.  If anyone doesn’t believe that, tell them I was fan-girling over the Avengers and wanted to stay up here and get autographs.”

“You sure, Flu-Sandra?” Tony hoped the slip wasn’t too bad.

“PUh-leaze… In private it’s Fluffy.” She waved them toward the elevators. “Besides, it’s not a lie: I got briefings to catch up on, battle plans to talk, and fan-girling to get on with.”

Emma smirked in her direction. “Don’t be TOO cruel, Fluffy.  It’s not nice to play with them without consent.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at Emma while the rest of the team looked more confused by the second. Emma smiled that spectacularly wicked smile she reserved for the times when the two of them had just started a truly epic prank. Tony grinned back at her.  _This was going to be great._

Pepper looked like she had suddenly realized that this was, in fact, one of Tony’s disastrously brilliant ideas.  “Tony… what is going on?”

Tony grinned wider and waved goodbye at the team as the door closed.  He was rewarded by a glower from Fury and worried looks from the rest of them ‑except Loki who did his best Spock impersonation.

After the elevator closed, Tony cheerfully said, “Jarvis, FULL recordings; I want to see this…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, but honestly once Tony left the room we switch perspectives, so...
> 
> a reminder in general: Characters lie and they can be mistaken. If you see it "on camera" so to speak, it happened, but if someone SAYS it happened... well, do you believe them? Just keep that in mind because information is about to start moving FAST.


	25. wiggle wiggle pounce part 2 – Loki’s perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy. Avengers. Cookies.  
> Also Fluffy knows way too much about some things.

“So, now that we ditched the straights‑” Fluffy said, and then glanced at Director Fury, “‑mostly, can I get out of the business costume?”

Loki smiled politely at her and said, “Of course, Fluffy, if you feel more comfortable in casual wear.”  He wondered what was evidently going on between Anthony and Ms. Frost; all he got on the link was intense amusement.

She peeled off the jacket and slung it over a chair. She was wearing a blue form fitting top that disappeared under the pants. She put her briefcase down on the table and opened it, revealing what Loki took to be  two stun guns,  several knives, what appeared to be a few passports, cash, gold coins, zip ties, padded cuffs, and her cat ears.   She took her ears out of the briefcase and put them on.

“Right. Much better,” she said doing something at her temple that started the ears moving and twitching.

“You… appear to be ready for… something interesting,” Romanov stated, trying to look casual.  Loki would wager she wanted to rip the case open and start investigating.

“Huh? OH! Hey, you’re Black Widow! Why don’t they have enough action figures of you? I can’t even get a tree ornament to bat at.”

Romanov muttered darkly in Russian and glanced at Director Fury before switching back to English, “Decisions at a higher level.”

“Ok, so…  Steve Rogers, you HAVE to be Captain America,” she said, walking around him and staring pointedly at  Captain Rogers’  ass.  He flushed. Loki was having the hardest time keeping a straight face.

“Those shoulders look too climbable to be anyone BUT Hawkeye…” She cocked her head at his Hawk in a predatory fashion.

Loki coughed slightly, “Don’t leave any claw marks on them, Fluffy.”

“Who, me?” she smirked. “Big and grumpy I didn’t catch the introductions to here MUST be Director Fury,” she said  walking away from the group, as Fury looked baffled by her .

Loki was by this point wondering just what “L’Oréal” was going to make of this.

 “And that leaves cookie hoarding, cute, curly haired dude here who wasn’t introduced,” she said walking toward Banner. Fluffy sat down on the bar and grabbed a cookie. “Who are you?”

“I’m, uh, Dr. Banner.  I research-“

“OMYGOD, THE Dr. Bruce Banner? Gamma radiation specialist? Co-author of Dr. Selvig’s paper on ‘Gamma Radiation and the Possibilities of Wormhole-Based Travel’?”

Bruce blinked up at her  in confusion, and smiled hesitantly. “Um… yes? How do you…”

“Cited by Dr. Stern in ‘On the Controlled Evolution of Mankind’?” Fluffy leaned down and waved the cookie at him. “THAT Dr. Banner?”

“Cited in what?” he yelped. “Wait, how did you hear about Dr. Stern?” Bruce  stood up, wringing his hands and looking around  worriedly. Loki watched him carefully for any signs of change.

Fury interjected, “I would like to know about that as well. That paper was suppressed by several agencies.”

 _What are they talking about? Dr. Stern? And Bruce worked with SELVIG? When?!_ Loki wracked his brain for any information on this and came up empty

“Well, SHIT,” Fluffy said jumping down from the bar. She paced away toward the window, ignoring the questions from Fury and Bruce, and the interjections from the others, then spun  back. “Hey... You got something to do with big green and gorgeous?”

Loki froze.  So did everyone else.

“Big… green… and what?” asked Bruce, suddenly sounding less upset and more confused.

Silhouetted against the windows, her outline suddenly shimmered in blue-white light for a moment. An alert started beeping and several lights flashed on pieces of equipment around the room.

“Holy shit…” she whispered. ”Holy shit…You’re HIM, aren’t you?”

Jarvis made that faint coughing noise of his and stated, “Miss Morgan, whatever you just did, could you kindly not repeat it? Several pieces of equipment appear to be damaged or malfunctioning.”

Loki strode over and took Fluffy by the elbow. “Why don’t we all sit down comfortably and have a nice calm discussion about this?”

Fluffy took her free hand and retrieved her cookie from the arm Loki had hold of. “I’m calm; it’s that lot that’s all upset.”

“Yes, and at least Dr. Banner turns green when he gets upset. Shall we?” He steered her into a chair.

“You do?” She twisted around for a better look at him.

Bruce was breathing deeply and checking his heart monitor. “Well, yes.”

“That’s awesome!”

“No, no it isn’t. Really.”

“You’ve got brains, cute curly hair I want to play with, cookies, AND you’re a mutant?  No, seriously. Awesome.”

“Errr… I’m not a mutant…”

“You have inherent super powers; you sure as heck aren’t NOT one.”

Bruce blinked in some confusion at that.

“Point,” Said Loki. “However, I was unaware that Dr. Banner had such an interesting resume…”

“Oh? Yeah, well we funded Dr. Stern, so we got advanced copies of every-“ Fluffy trailed off as Bruce started to turn green, literally.

“Now Doctor,” Fury said edging his arm toward a pocket. “Let’s just talk this over.”

Romanov moved directly in between Fluffy and the distinctly green- tinged Bruce. “Doctor, you’re safe. It’s all friends here. We’re talking about the past, nothing new, nothing now,”  she said very soothingly.

“Whoa,” Fluffy  breathed.

Loki tried to shush her, but she kept talking in a remarkably cheerful tone. “Did you ever watch that, Dr. Banner? I can see the green changeover. It appears to be starting in your eyes. Does it follow the nervous system, the lymphatic system, or perfuse through the tissue directly?”

Bruce blinked several times confusedly in her direction, and returned to his normal color.

“I… I honestly don’t know?” he said, collapsing into a chair.

Everyone breathed out almost in unison. Most people sat back down.

Fluffy took another bite of the cookie. “Just so you know, for future, it would be HELPFUL if you told visiting allies stuff like this BEFORE it blows up, yo?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: it is in fact CANON that Dr. Stern was working with Bruce banner's blood to try to create something like a serum "for the eveolution of mankind". i figured since he didnt get the funding from general Ross, he must have gotten it from someone... part of it came from the hellfire Club. Part of it came from Hydra, and a bit from Magneto.  
> anyway, the Hellfire Club got advanced copies  
> and yes that includes blood samples (whistles innocently)
> 
> and yes its also canon that Bruce worked with Selvig in their earlier career. i made up the paper name, but they actually did work together.  
> Drtails in my information page (part of this series, chapter 6) or here: http://marvel-movies.wikia.com/wiki/Bruce_Banner
> 
> Fluffy derailed the change by making him think about technical details. clever of her.  
> and she never dropped the cookie, because priorities.


	26. All Knowledge Is Contained In Fandom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is an old old saying that AKICIF "All Knowledge Is Contained In Fandom"  
> It's not wrong.

Romanov stared at Fluffy with absolutely no expression.  “I believe,”  she said,  “that I need to know a bit more about you.”

_Her Russian accent was showing, just a touch_ , Loki noted.

“Nat, we’re all friends…” his Hawk said warningly.

“Yeah, so I heard you knit?” Fluffy said cheerfully at Romanov. “I crochet.  Loki knits, he said you were knitting. Tony doesn’t like us talking about craft stuff, for that matter the Inner Circle has this ‘no craft talk in meetings’ rule.” She took a slight breath and continued, “I wanted to meet you like SO bad!  You are like totally awesome, and I have fan fic where I –“

Loki cut her off hurriedly, “If it’s anything like the other fan fiction I have read, I am not certain that’s for mixed company.”

Barton coughed and muttered, “Is there any fan fiction that is for mixed company?”

“SQUEEE!” Fluffy actually said “squee” as she jumped up and ran over to Agent Barton.  “You read fan fic? Have you read yours? I mean the stuff about you? I mean if so you might have run across mine…”

Fury raised his voice, “If this is going to be a knitting circle, I’m heading out, but I thought we were talking about tactics?”

“Gah, you sound like Sebastian.” Fluffy pouted in an exaggerated fashion. “I’m multi-talented, I can do both.”

“Your briefcase contents are intriguing,” Loki said politely. “Perhaps we should get to some discussion.”

Fluffy shrugged. “I’m one of the Inner Circles’ killers.  Chances are once you guys find out the Hydra spies, some of them are gonna need to… die… under completely normal and untraceable circumstances….that don’t link back to Avengers.”

Fury raised an eyebrow and nodded.  Rogers frowned and looked unhappy.  Banner winced and glanced at his heart monitor. Barton looked neutral.

Romanov smiled very sharply, “What makes you think we can’t do that ourselves?”

“Oh no offense!” Fluffy said raising both hands. “I’m sure you guys can, I mean if you want to. But can you do it while the rest of Hydra has you under surveillance enough that they have to admit you didn’t do it?”

Loki grinned, “That does, indeed, make it more difficult.”

“Besides, if Hydra has been in S.H.I.E.L.D.  as much as we think? They know your profiles inside and out, right?”

Romanov nodded grimly. “Truth.”

Barton looked at her thoughtfully. “So the scatterbrained part is obviously an act…”

“Not entirely; I’m A.D.D. as shit.”

“I assume,” Rogers said tiredly, “that asking you to watch your language is a lost cause?”

Fluffy just howled with laughter.

Rogers nodded glumly.

Fluffy bounded over at him and peered up.  She looked even shorter next to him somehow.

“You’re not as straightlaced as Tony thinks you are.”

“Uh, what?”

_No, he’s  worse,_ thought Loki, and then started wondering…

Romanov cleared her throat, “So you are proposing to assassinate the Hydra members we find?”

“Well, some of them.  Take out a few key people and the opposition falls over, ya know?”

Barton drily commented, “Auto accidents are usually –“

She cut him off.  “Noticeable.  Statistically anomalous, when dealing with more than one or two people, especially in New York City.” She paused thoughtfully. “Unless you can get them all on a bus.”

Fury nodded at her briefcase. “You propose stabbing and electrocuting them?”

Fluffy smiled happily. “I usually prefer untraceable heart attacks, incidental shootings‑ ‘oops  collateral damage from a gang fight’ ‑ and burst appendixes.” She cocked her head thoughtfully. “With secret plot type people it’s always easier to kill a few of them and pin it on one of their own, though.”

Bruce looked queasy. “You say that so casually.”

“Awwww… honey….” She looked sympathetically at him. “You really aren’t meant for this stuff are you?”

Loki drily commented, “He abhors violence, he’s just very good at it.”

She walked over to Bruce and patted him gently on the arm. “How about you go find everyone some lunch?”

He sighed and nodded. “The fresh air will be good for me.”

Once the elevator door closed behind him, Rogers looked at Fury and asked, “Should I go after him and keep an eye on him?”

Before Fury could answer, Fluffy chimed in, “Nah, hang on.” She pulled a cell phone out of her pocket and pushed a button. “Cute fluffy-haired geek type will be going hunting lunch, yo?”

A distant voice from the phone made questioning sounds.

“Nah, valuable resource, guard.” She closed the link down and put the phone away.

Barton looked questioningly at her. “You think he needs…”

“No, but better safe than sorry.” She grinned up at Rogers. “SO… if half the fan fic is right about you, and your history, you are one sexy bad ass mofo, and I need you here, plotting to blow up the Nazis, not playing babysitter, cool?”

Rogers flushed slightly. “Uh, thank you, miss… I think.”

Romanov looked dubious; so did Barton.

Fury leaned back and looked speculatively at Fluffy. “What does this ‘Fan Fiction’ say about Captain Rogers?  I understood it was mostly smut.”

“Well, yeah, I mean… a lot of it is smut, but just the bits about Bucky and Steve and the Howling Commandos, blowing up strongholds and setting booby traps and stuff… Even without the stories about the USO girls –“

Rogers went from looking stunned to turning beet red and staring at the wall intently.

“Just the parts about the explosives and the sniper crossfires sound useful.”

“A lot of that was Bucky…” Rogers sounded strangled.

“He just joined up to keep an eye on you, Captain dude; I mean, come on, you tried to enlist BEFORE you got the  formula from Dr. Erskine-“

“How do you know THAT!” Howled several people at once, although the Director’s voice was the loudest.

“The Hellfire club got into that many of the records?” Fury growled.

“Uh, what?” Fluffy looked perplexed. “No… that’s all from fan fic.  Some of the writers even cite sources.  I went down to the Smithsonian just to look at some of this after reading about it in fan fiction.”

_I obviously need to read far more Fan Fiction,_ Loki resolved.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AKICIF  
> Between the official degrees and training (many people in fandom work in interesting places) and the obsessive research, detail,, and so on that even the least "official" of us can put into fannish things, this is not just hyperbole.   
> In a world where there are real supers, the internet, paparazzi, and people with knitting telepathy (joke, slightly, ) how long do you think it takes for Tumblr and AO3 to find things out (or accidentally figure them out)? add in the resources a group like the Hellfire Cub has to offer....


	27. I’m here to rescue you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short chapter today

Tony let his mouth run on practiced autopilot as they went on the tour showing the “new investor” around the tower.  Just another politically polite tour by some investor, right? Just Tony‑fucking-Stark escorting ice and fire, here incarnated as businesswomen, around the building.

 _Oooooooh yeah, these guys follow the gossip_ _columns_ , Tony thought glumly as yet another person did a double take between Pepper and Emma.

Tony ducked into the men’s room as Emma asked Pepper boring, and byzantine, questions about cost and projected revenue. He was splashing water on his face when one of the tech boys came in.

“Is that” ‑he jerked his head toward the door‑ “your ex?”

“Yes, and yes,” Tony answered tiredly. “Which one were you asking about?”

The guy stammered a bit.

 _Dave? Ralph?  Oh, right, Leo_. “If you’re asking about the blonde, Leo, yeah, we went out, but that was ages ago.  Didn’t know anyone would remember that.”

“Uh, yes sir.  A lot of us… um... follow your… errr… media.  She’s Emma Frost, right? You two went to some pretty risqué parties.” He fidgeted. “We were wondering, with you know, her being shown around… and Ms. Potts…. A couple of us were wondering if you wanted us to trip the fire alarm or something.”

Tony was touched.  He walked over and hugged the extremely surprised Leo. “That’s really thoughtful of you guys.”

“We could do it pretty easily!  The electronic monitors already showed some disruption back up in the penthouse,” he said brightly.

 _They did?!_ “Hang on…” Tony pulled out his pad and checked messages and alerts; he’d been ignoring them.

Auto: Electromagnetic disruption in region 3. _Penthouse._

Auto: Strong microwave transmissions noted, centered in 3.7125.   _The Windows? Was Loki …_

Jarvis: Miss Morgan is able to generate some kind of electromagnetic field. Several of the more sensitive instruments will need to be recalibrated or repaired. The video and movie system may need to be replaced.

Jarvis: Situation appears to be stable.

Jarvis: Dr. Banner has been sent out to get lunch; someone will be guarding him. Miss Morgan is discussing tactics. No further EM pulses noted.

Tony rubbed his beard tiredly. “Yeah, there was… doesn’t look serious, but…” He straightened up and clapped Leo on the shoulders. “YOU, good man, have just come in to tell me about this, and I finally read my pad, and I have to go back upstairs because… something.”

Leo grinned at him. “Yes, sir. Um… can I ask you a question?”

“Sure. No guarantees on the answer.”

“Black Widow… “

Tony raised an eyebrow.

“She was Natalie Rushman… right?”

“Yup.”

“So does that mean you… and um… I mean… most of your other assistants…”

Tony laughed, “Since I am still breathing, you may safely assume the answer to that is ‘no’. I kept thinking I had a shot at Natalie, but it was an act. All business…. And Black Widow –“ Tony thought pleasant thoughts about  Natasha and knives, and then shook his head  and came back to reality. “Yeah... no.”

Leo looked a bit disappointed.

“Tell you what, Leo: once I get Fire and Ice there out of the building, or at least out of blast radius of me for a bit, I’ll tell you some stories about them.” _Entirely fictional stories, but hey._

As they were walking out of the bathroom, and just before Leo went back to his desk, he muttered, “We’re calling them ‘Salt and Pepper’, sir.”

Tony choked back a laugh and quickly covered it with babbled excuses to the two ladies, “Electrical problem in the penthouse, sorry…”

Pepper looked disappointed, but resigned. He’d ducked out of enough business before.

What worried him was the smirk at the corner of Emma’s mouth and the amused glint in her eyes.

_There had been an electrical problem._

_It was apparently something to do with Fluffy._

_What the hell could have happened with Fluffy? Did she chase a laser pointer into the entertainment system or something?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm battling migraines, and losing, I'm afraid.   
> Transitioning chapters are often either very short, or really long and unwieldy.


	28. If No One Mentions It, It Never Happened

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is a cat toy.  
> Tony gets back to the group

Tony expected almost anything when he returned to the penthouse. Burning wreckage, fistfights, Loki having thrown them all out a window….

_I am not seeing this._

Tony stared incredulously at the sight of  Fluffy, stripped down to a skintight blue leotard, heeled boots and bits of metal‑minus her ears‑ draped over  Steve’s broad shoulders like a cat girl stole.  She was waving a cookie at Jarvis’ displays being projected in the middle of the table.

Natasha and Clint were standing shoulder to shoulder, apparently consulting on said display, while Fury was standing aside with a dyspeptic look.  And Loki….

Loki looked utterly delighted, which meant it was REALLY disastrous.

“So, normally I expect the half-naked girls draped over people to be at the parties I am, in fact, attending…” Tony said drily as he walked in.

Steve hid the wince and flush pretty well.  He was standing ramrod straight as he usually did… just with a Fluffy on his shoulders.

Fluffy locked her legs over his shoulders and dropped upside down across Steve’s back. “HI! You’re back early!”

“Yes, yes I am. Some of the tech boys kindly rescued me by pointing out that there was an electrical problem.” _If no one ELSE is going to comment on Fluffy treating Steve like a kiddie ride, I won’t either. Let’s see who cracks first._

“Oooh yeah, sorry about that,” Fluffy said, and then addressed Steve. “Hey, can you help me get down?”

Steve carefully removed her and put her down on the floor.  Tony thought he looked a bit relieved, but he was hiding it all behind that military face.

Fluffy bounded over to him. “So… judging from the info we have so far‑before Emma reports in anyway‑ looks like we just have to kill about 20 people, and destroy a few key facilities and it’s all over!”

“Hardly,” growled Fury. “We’ll be mole hunting for years; decades maybe.”

“Well, yeah, but as far as ‘immediate threat to world security and my stock options’ it will all be over, and that’s the only thing that matters.” Fluffy shrugged, “The rest is cleanup.  I don’t DO clean up. That’s Hero shit.”

Tony cleared his throat. “Well as it happens Fluff, other than chase laser pointers and have a head full of useful contact information, I really don’t know the details of what you do?”

Natasha looked politely and professionally blank‑ _That’s a bad sign_ ‑ and said, “Fluffy is apparently one of the killers for the Inner Circle, as well as being incredibly informed on a large number of topics that she should know nothing about.”

“Jealousy doesn’t become you Nat,” Tony said idly. _What DID I miss? Those recordings are going to be gold._

Clint spoke up, sounding a bit glum; “She has a point, Nat.” He nodded at Tony, “We were going over the auto accident statistics. If too many of their people die in auto accidents, and they have halfway decent computers, they’ll pick it up.”

Tony glanced at Steve. “You… Ok with the discussion so far?”

“I would prefer not to be an observation platform,” he said drily. “But otherwise, yes.”

“Bruce went out for lunch?”

Loki spoke up, “He was getting upset. Fluffy managed to calm him down rather unexpectedly.”

Fluffy giggled, “Bruce is adorable!  Can I borrow him? I promise not to scuff him up too badly.”

“I don’t think he’s your type, Fluff.”

“In the long term, no. In the short term? He’s adorable.”

“Yes, yes he is.  Slight issues with property damage, but otherwise you’re right.” Tony stopped thoughtfully. “Actually, the property damage is pretty cool, too.”

Loki glared at him. Tony studiously ignored it.

“So… fill me in.”

They were part way through briefing him ‑with some slight side-tracking by Fluffy onto the fact that he HAD to read Fluffy’s fan-fiction‑when his phone buzzed insistently.

“Hang on.”

 

Tony stepped aside and answered the phone,  “You got me. Go.”

“Tony? It’s Warren.”

“I was hoping to hear from you! Any idea when and how we can get together?”

“How’s now? I’m in the city, with a few friends.”

“Ooooh boy. Sure, why not.”

“You sound iffy.”

“Fluffy is here.  Also a business associate and old friend, but…”

Warren sounded resigned, “May as well get it over with.  Can we trust-“

“Yes, and we have ways of ensuring that. In fact you and ANYONE you bring up will have to deal with those same methods of insurance. No joke, very serious stuff…. My associate has some unique methods.”

Warren just groaned.

Tony put a bright, cheerful smile‑ that he completely didn’t feel‑ on his face and said, “Fifteen minutes?”

“Sure, why not.” Warren sounded like he was going to his own funeral. Tony knew the feeling but there was never any point in letting it show.

 

“So, the third ring of the circus is coming to town…” Tony said cheerfully walking back over.

“Ah?” Loki asked, and then looked enlightened. “Our retrieval team?”

“At least a couple of negotiators,” Tony nodded. “Jarvis, show them up.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Fluffy looked intently at him. “Feathers?”

Tony nodded, “And friends.”

“Wheeeee! Depending on the friends you may want to get them signed on to the magic oath stick before you introduce us.  Some of his friends may recognize one of us.”

Natasha asked suspiciously, “So? Ms. Frost is a noted businesswoman…”

Fluffy laughed and ran over to put on her pants and jacket. “No,” she said sitting on the floor and engaging in peculiar contortions to get into her pants.

Tony thought she was doing it to mess with Capsicle, frankly, who was studiously not looking.

“It’s just that, depending on who’s coming up, we may have tried to kill them or something. Heroes, villains… you know.” She grinned at Loki and Tony, “We don’t all end up in bed, however much it may sound good in the fan fic.”

All of the Avengers groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> try convincing her she can't sit on Captain America's shoulders. She acts like she's six and pouts.


	29. History- Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Fluffy maintains her priorities, and we have new arrivals
> 
> Pretty please read the notes

Fluffy hid behind the bar. “Hey!” she said popping up immediately. “You’ve got a bed under here!”

“Yes, yes I do,” Tony said tiredly. “Don’t make a mess.”

She went back to hiding.

Before anyone could ask about the bed, the elevator door opened and Bruce came out with a lot of bags. 

Everyone had been expecting the new people so there was a momentarily pause and then almost everyone tried to move to help at once.  It was funny, in a slapstick sort of way.

Fluffy popped up. “Don’t forget to feed the kitty!”

Bruce smiled at her and took both of their containers of food over to the bar.

Tony was starting to wonder if they made a cute couple, but eventually…

“Your expected guests are on their way up, sir,” Jarvis announced.

Fluffy ducked back under the bar, then popped back up, grabbed her food, and ducked back down again. 

Bruce grinned and shook his head.

The elevator doors opened again, and this time Warren and two other people got out.

Warren was first.  Tony knew he was good looking, but apparently the other people hadn’t quite gotten the memo. Warren always got that reaction: guys looking like they wanted to kill him or kiss him, depending on their tastes; women usually looking like they wanted to kiss him or they assumed he was gay.

There was a professional looking guy with a red visor on‑ Tony remembered Fluffy saying the leader wore a red visor‑ and Trouble.

Trouble was shorter than Tony, about two Tonys wide, well dressed, and not just shaggy in the head hair: he apparently had a lot of body hair too; you could see it around his collar line.  He also trailed a smell of cigars, and had a nose that looked like it had been broken a few times.

Trouble pushed visor dude aside, and looked straight over at Fury. “Told you to watch your six.”

Fury looked dumbfounded for just a moment and then grinned, “Logan… you goddamn bastard, it’s been too long.”  He strode over and they proceeded to do the bro arm clasp to end all bro arm clasps.

Tony was by no means the only one staring; it looked like Trouble‑Logan‑‘s team mates were pretty stunned, too.

Visor Dude recovered just slightly faster than the rest of them. “Logan, you didn’t say you knew any of these people.”

“Need to know, kid,” Logan growled.

Visor Dude’s lips thinned.

Fury nodded at Logan, “I am damned glad to find out these characters have better references than I thought.”

Loki stood up, “Gentlemen. There is a matter of oaths…”

The discussion went… oddly was the only way to put it.  Warren was just kind of resigned, and kept glaring at Tony as Tony tried to figure out how his wings fit under the coat.

 Visor dude‑whose named turned out to be Scott‑ only went along with it because the other two did. 

Logan, on the other hand, looked at Fury and said, “You BUY this?”

Fury sighed faintly, “Whether I do or not, it’s all we’ve got to keep this together.”

“I assure you, it’s very serious,” Loki said, looking at him. “However, if you attack any of us, or deliberately try to harm or betray us, we are released from our bonds to you, without penalty.”

Logan was the last of the three to take the oath: his cut healed closed within moments after he’d put his blood on the staff.

Bruce, who had come over to help clean up and bandage cuts, stared. “But you look human…”

“Mind your own business!” snarled Logan.

Tony, and several others, were just getting ready to intervene when Fluffy popped up and vaulted the bar.

“CHILL! It’s cool, Wolvie, he’s one of ours.”

Logan jumped back, and suddenly had a handful of knives in each hand.  That put everyone on high alert‑of course.

“Who the hell are you?” Logan snarled‑really snarled; he looked wild.

Fluffy looked offended. “I almost killed you once and you don’t REMEMBER me? How RUDE!”

Tony heard Loki say with some amusement, “No manners, these days…”

Logan looked like he was calming down, which seemed to be despite Scott and Warren trying‑ineffectually‑ to pull him back by the shoulders.

“You’re gonna have to narrow it down, kid, lots of people have tried to kill me.”

“Hellfire Club? You were fighting those two guys? I blasted you all?”

Logan narrowed his eyes at her. “You were with them.”

“No, Shaw wanted me to PRETEND I was with them until they gave themselves away.” She smiled happily. “Two down and promotions for everyone.”

Tony interrupted, “Those came out of your SKIN.”

Logan looked at him kind of oddly. “Yeah, so?”

“Hello, boys,” Emma said walking in with Pepper… and Coulson. _Who knew where they’d picked him up?_

All three of them‑ Logan, Scott, and Warren‑ stared at her in alarm as her ‘business clothes’ faded away into an outfit Tony had never seen her wear.

It was an unprecedented amount of skin showing for Emma, although for most women of the Hellfire Club it wouldn’t have been.  Thigh high boots, a lace up bustier, bikini bottom, long gloves, and a fur trimmed cloak‑ all in white. The polite business expression faded away to a cruel smile.

“Aren’t you fortunate we are all under treaty…” Emma said, walking past them like they were completely inconsequential.  Logan was the only one who held his ground, although he looked wary as hell; the other two backed up with looks of alarm on their faces.

Emma walked straight over to Tony and put out a gloved arm; he offered her his fully clothed arm with a smile.

“Snowflake, you sure can make an entrance…”

She turned to look at the three men. “The Hellfire Club officially puts its resources behind this, gentlemen.”

 Tony knew Emma was impressive, but these guys were combatants, so he was puzzled by their reactions. “Em? Did you threaten their retirement accounts or something?”

“Emma Frost… of Frost industries… is the White Queen?” Warren sounded a bit strangled.

Scott had his hand up near his visor.

“I wouldn’t, Mr. Summers,” Emma said pleasantly.  “The instant you commit to that action, you break the treaty, and you wouldn’t want that.”

Fury interjected, “No one is breaking any treaties.  We have a hell of a lot bigger problem than any kind of feud between your groups.”

“What feud?” Fluffy said idly, digging her chopsticks into the take out container. “We occasionally end up opposing each other, sure…”

Emma smiled, “Fluffy, there is a bit of a longer standing issue between Professor Xavier’s X-Men and some of the older members of the Inner Circle.”

The new three and Coulson were mouthing “Fluffy?”  Tony noted that Coulson had somehow managed to get over to a wall near Clint without being noticed.

“Oh? So there is a feud?”

“Yes.”

“Next time TELL me. I won’t pull my punch.”

Emma just smiled, but Tony heard her in his head clear as anything _, “But Fluffy dear, they’re still USEFUL.”_

_“Oh.”_ Fluffy hadn’t stopped eating, but he heard her reply.

Tony concentrated on the link, like he would with Loki _, “Just out of courtesy, I thought I should let you know I heard that.”_

Emma startled badly.

Fluffy grinned, broadly and started singing, “Tony and Emma sitting in a tree…”

Tony and Emma both shuddered and said “Ewww!” almost in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, Logan knowing Nick Fury is backed up in cannon for comic books ( at one level of ret-con anyway). Logan/wolverine was a member of Alpha Flight and a Canadian intelligence asset   
> This is MY universes ( and Fluffy's version) of the meeting between Sandra Morgan and Wolverine  
>  (Please read the Reading list and resource list for more. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5045194 )
> 
> I have written up a HYDRA ( specifically alexander Pierce POV) for this series, you can find it here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/8718256 work 8 of the series
> 
> I have an opinion poll/ question for my readers here:http://archiveofourown.org/works/8715358 about whether a possible interaction between Fluffy and Bucky should be canon, or a "what if"


	30. History –Loki’s POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's POV on some of the same events, plus a litle

Loki was mostly waiting for the new people to arrive‑ since he had to manage the bindings‑but it was a great deal of much needed FUN to watch Fluffy deal with everyone.

He’d been hard pressed to believe it when she had insisted, in the manner of cats in every dimension, that anyone, and anything, was a cat toy‑even Captain America.

It amused him no end to watch the Little Spider torn between wanting to administer a spanking, and having Fluffy shot.  He judged that his Hækkaði was correct that there was no small amount of jealousy involved. 

His Hawk had mostly retreated behind his professional façade; Loki was itching to know what was going on, but he left them to their discussions.

She did seem to get along well with Bruce. Anyone that could calm the Beast was an asset, but he was somewhat boggled by her methods.  She did seem to have a lot in common with Anthony.

Fury had started out dismissive.  Her reasoning and her  cheerful expertise in killing left Loki with little doubt that  the Director was torn between  recruiting her, spanking her, and shooting her, and  probably getting indigestion from the conflict.

In other words, this was the most fun Loki had had‑out of bed‑ in quite a while.

 _‘L’Oréal’_ He snickered every time he remembered it.  

Eventually the newcomers arrived.  Loki instantly despised the man with the red visor; he carried himself in a way that just reminded Loki of too many people. Warren, of course was harmless; far too naïve and oblivious.  The third man, however, was a warrior, if small.  Loki knew that small warriors often made up for their lack of stature in viciousness‑as did many women‑ and this fellow certainly looked the sort.

The small warrior pushed his ostensible leader –and there was no leadership there‑ aside, and looked straight over at Fury. “Told you to watch your six.”

Fury looked dumbfounded for just a moment and then grinned, “Logan… you goddamn bastard, it’s been too long.”  He strode over and they clasped arms like brothers. _This bore watching_.

Trying to recover his status, the ostensible leader tried to chide the other: “Logan, you didn’t say you knew any of these people.”

“Need to know, kid,” Logan growled, giving no heed to him.

Fury nodded at Logan, “I am damned glad to find out these characters have better references than I thought.”

 _Wonderful,_ thought Loki, _another group tearing themselves apart._

Loki stood up. “Gentlemen. There is a matter of oaths…”

It was explained. Logan, being an ally of Fury’s, was the most suspicious.

“You BUY this?”

Fury sighed faintly, “Whether I do or not, it’s all we’ve got to keep this together.”

“I assure you, it’s very serious,” Loki said, looking at him. “However, if you attack any of us, or deliberately try to harm or betray us, we are released from our bonds to you, without penalty.”

Logan’s cut healed closed within moments after he’d put his blood on the staff. _Interesting_.

Bruce, who had come over to help clean up and bandage cuts, stared. “But you look human…” _Ah, yes, the Doctor only healed so as the great monster._

“Mind your own business!” snarled Logan.

He and Anthony, and a few others tried to intervene when Fluffy vaulted the bar.

“CHILL! It’s cool, Wolvie, he’s one of ours.”

Logan jumped back, and suddenly had a handful of knives in each hand‑ _No, no he didn’t; he had knives coming OUT of each hand._

 “Who the hell are you?” Logan snarled.

Fluffy looked offended, but, Loki noted, not at all alarmed; he began to relax slightly. “I almost killed you once and you don’t REMEMBER me? How RUDE!”

 “No manners, these days _…” Ah, they were old war opponents and yet she held him as no threat? This was interesting._

He watched as Scott and Warren tugged at Logan’s shoulders.  They had about as much luck as they would have had trying to move Thor.

 “You’re gonna have to narrow it down, kid, lots of people have tried to kill me.” Loki saw him calming, as no attack was forthcoming.

“Hellfire Club? You were fighting those two guys? I blasted you all?” She waved a hand in a gesture Loki would use to throw an energy blast.

Logan narrowed his eyes at her. “You were with them.”

“No, Shaw wanted me to PRETEND I was with them until they gave themselves away.” She smiled happily. “Two down and promotions for everyone.”

Loki noticed the door from the elevator open.  Ms. Potts, Mr. Coulson, and… W _hen had she changed clothes?_  

Ms. Frost‑his Anthony’s ‘Emma’‑ was wearing something  far more like what he’d seen at the club, but there was a shifting image of her business… _Oh, an illusion of the mind._

“Hello, boys.” Ms. Frost walked in, dropping any pretense of being ordinary.  This was not his Anthony’s ‘dear Emma’, either.  She’d stopped hiding what she was.  This was a superior being.

_Ah, apparently she was allowing the others to see it, too._

 “Aren’t you fortunate we are all under treaty…” she said, walking past them like a queen.

Loki glanced at his Anthony worriedly.  He looked fond, slightly impressed… and not at all interested.  Loki started breathing again.

 Anthony took her arm and grinned. “Snowflake, you sure can make an entrance…”

She turned to look at the three men. “The Hellfire Club officially puts its resources behind this, gentlemen.”

 “Emma Frost… of Frost industries… is the White Queen?” _Indeed, Warren was entirely too naïve._ Loki hoped he had some valuable skills.

 “I wouldn’t, Mr. Summers,” Emma said lightly, addressing Scott.  “The instant you commit to that action, you break the treaty, and you wouldn’t want that.”

_What?  Was the visor some sort of weapon?_

Fury interjected, “No one is breaking any treaties.  We have a hell of a lot bigger problem than any kind of feud between your groups.”

“What feud?” Fluffy said, continuing to eat.

She certainly seemed to value her food… Loki flinched as he remembered being starved.  He entirely missed the rest of the exchanges, being lost in his memories, until Fluffy started singing.

Fluffy was grinning broadly and singing, “Tony and Emma, sitting in a tree…”

Tony and Emma both shuddered and said “Ewww!” almost in unison.

“What?” Loki asked, puzzled.

His Hawk drily commented, “A taunting song. Kids sing it.”

Fluffy laughed, “I was accusing them of wanting to kiss and stuff; don’t sweat it, they don’t.”

Logan looked dubiously at everyone. “If the Hellfire Club is backing this, and the Avengers are backing this, why the hell do you need us?”

 

Tony shrugged. “Short form? Anyone who’s been affected by the item can be put back under its influence.  That’s way too many of the Avengers’ side of the equation.  It’s hideously powerful and very tempting, which makes the Hellfire Club pretty iffy, since‑let’s face it‑ most of them would want it.

“Fluffy suggested you.”

“Fluffy?” Scott sounded dubious.

“Me!” Fluffy said waving cheerfully.

Scott looked her up and down. “You… tried to kill Logan?” Warren looked fairly disbelieving as well.

“No,” Fluffy shook her head. “If I’d tried to kill Wolvie, he’d be dead, because I woulda stopped to cut his rapid regenerating throat,” she said smiling happily. “I was trying to kill the other guys.  I did too.”

Logan looked thoughtfully at her. “You were cowering and whining.”

She turned piteously big eyes on him and fell backward holding a hand up as if to defend herself. “You’re-you’re too close! I can’t! I’ll hit you!”  She then very believably started crying.

Loki was utterly entranced.   _Fluffy was ADORABLE._

Dr. Banner was moving toward her with concern when she bounced to her feet, cheerful eyes still holding a few tears.  She ran over and hugged him. “Awww… you’re sweet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy is a very good actress.  
> Coming up shortly, Panic attacks, what ifs, the return of old friends, and spotlight on Steve


	31. can you imagine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for this chapter, it starts all fun and bouncy and then it isn't

Loki looked on in amused disbelief as Dr. Banner worried at Fluffy.

“You sure you’re ok? These guys are‑“

“Wolverine’s ok. He may look scary but he’s JUST a hero‑ they’re harmless.”

Romanov muttered, “The burn is strong with this one.”

Several people mouthed ‘harmless’ and looked at Logan.

“HEY!” Logan yelped. “Who’s harmless?!”

Fluffy let go of the Doctor and ran over to a confused looking Logan and hugged him; he stood there looking perplexed.

“You are.  You’re just a big, cuddly, knife-filled teddy bear,” she said looking up at him happily.

Then she let him go, twirling, and skipped back to Dr. Banner. “But I like you better.”

The Doctor looked stunned and glanced over at his Anthony, who was clearly perplexed. Loki noticed that Ms. Frost’s eyes were glinting with vicious amusement.

_It was obviously up to me to get this back on track_.  “So, there is a powerful item that must be retrieved, and as the good Lady Fluffy”‑ he nodded to her‑ “has stated, the best way to retrieve it without issue would be a group of heroes.”  He paused. “Who haven’t been under its influence.”

Warren sighed, “Can we get introductions out of the way? And find out how Logan knows this guy?” Warren waved in the direction of Fury.

Logan looked amused. “This ‘guy’ is Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Scott stared at him,. “If you KNOW the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., why didn’t you ever say anything?”

Fury grinned, “For that matter, you son-of-a-bitch, why didn’t you tell me you were in the States? I could have tried to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. at least out of your business.”

Ms. Frost had gone over to sit down, looking utterly fascinated.  Anthony finally came over close enough for Loki to pull him in.

Logan just grinned up at Fury, “Look, Jr. Your old man may‑“

Anthony almost fell onto Loki‑ not that he minded; Coulson started spluttering; Romanov looked shocked for a moment, then intent.

“Fury? You have FAMILY? I thought you just spontaneously appeared out of your trench coat,” Anthony spluttered.

“Tact and diplomacy were never your strong suit, elskan mín,” Loki said pointedly at Anthony.

“Had family. Past tense.”

That shut most people up.

Logan shrugged, “One of my friends, now dead, was friends with Senior. “   He looked at Fury and pulled a cigar out of his pocket. “So I’ve known Junior here for years…”

“No smoking,” Pepper said firmly.

“What?”

“No smoking.  You want to smoke you can go outside.”

“There’s a balcony,” Loki said, sounding as helpful as he could while suppressing snickers.  Anthony elbowed him.

“Whole country’s gone soft,” Logan shook his head.

“I could use a smoke,” Fury said. “Besides, there’s some things to catch up on. Let’s step outside.”

“Mind the railing,” Loki smiled.

“Lo…”

“What?” He put on his most terribly innocent face.

“So, Boss Lady,” Fluffy said, still hugging Banner around the waist with her head pressed to his chest. “Do I get to kill anyone? I mean soon? Or can I run off with Bruce and feed him milkshakes and brush his hair?”

Banner was stroking her hair sort of reflexively and looking at Anthony with an utterly bewildered look.

“I suspect we will need to deal with some of the key Hydra spies in the building, Fluffy. Let the poor man go.”

“I’m not –“ Banner started to protest.

“Hold up, you found some?” Anthony was suddenly sharply attentive.

“Most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives in the building are either Hydra, or,” she looked over directly at Coulson and smiled, “so loyal to someone that  whichever way THEY go, they take their people.  Since not all of those leaders are here, I cannot be certain which side those loyalists would come down on.”

“If they aren’t Hydra, they could be saved,” Rogers said solemnly. “Loyalty is a good thing, as long as they aren’t loyal to –“

Fluffy interrupted. “So who can we frame for the killings?”

“What?!” Scott looked around in disbelief. “You’re going to frame someone for murder?”

“Yes,” Ms. Frost said pleasantly.  Loki assumed she’d gotten the plan from Fluffy.

Fluffy stuck her tongue out at Scott, while still holding Banner. “We’re gonna frame ONE Nazi terrorist, for the deaths of a few OTHER Nazi terrorists, so no one catches on.”

Scott looked torn. Warren blinked a lot and looked around the room. “For real? Nazi terrorists?”

He got nods and assent from all sides.

Rogers nodded at the two of them. “I’m Captain Steve Rogers‑“

Fluffy sang out “Captain America.” She let go of Banner and ran over at Rogers. “Catch me!” she called out, hurling herself onto his chest and scrambling back onto his shoulders.

Anthony was studiously pretending he didn’t see that. So were a number of the rest of the Avengers.

Fluffy adjusted herself to sit on his shoulders and started patting his hair. “Your hair is nicer in person, you know.”

Rogers, looking stoic‑ as someone who has long ago bowed to the inevitable‑ just said, “Thank you, Fluffy.”

Coulson was making spluttering noises. “What are you DOING?” He started moving over with the obvious intent of pulling her off the Captain. _As Anthony would say, ‘Good luck with that’._

“Climbing the second best set of shoulders in the room, why?” said Fluffy looking perplexed.

“What did I tell you about playing with them, Fluffy?” Ms. Frost smirked.

“Get OFF of him,” Coulson said, sounding completely bewildered and looking at Rogers with a ‘why don’t you DO something?’ look.  Loki was struggling not to fall over laughing.

“She was doing that earlier, sir,” said Barton drily. “We found out it’s easier to just leave her until she gets bored.”

“Could someone explain what this has to do with… uh... ‘Nazi terrorists’?”  Scott said. He started rubbing his forehead and muttering, “This has got to be a telepathic hallucination.”

“I assure you, if I was making you see things, Mr. Summers, they would make more sense,” Ms. Frost said drily.

“So, Hydra? In my building?” Anthony said, looking at Ms. Frost.

“You understand I didn’t get to everyone.”

“Naturally.”

Romanov spoke up suddenly. “The… X-men? was it?” They nodded. “Are, in fact, not involved in the issues in this building. The less they know about this the better, but the scepter needs to be gotten to safety.  Those ‘Nazi terrorists’‑Hydra‑ who have infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently have it.”

Ms. Frost smiled at them, and looked pointedly at Logan as he came in with Directory Fury, “You know what I am capable of, gentlemen?”

All three nodded grimly.

“The scepter lets someone be completely reprogrammed, their loyalty suborned, to the point of turning on old comrades... with a touch.”

Fury just nodded at Logan. He indicated Barton, who was looking extremely tense – Loki frowned unhappily‑“The scepter touched one of my best men, and he turned into HIS best man.” He gestured at Loki.

Loki shrugged, “I was also affected, and hence I cannot touch it again.” _Unless I somehow found a way to shield myself, it would be a disaster._

Anthony tensed. “Tea?” he said jumping up. “This has been a really bad discussion. Everyone needs coffee, tea, or donuts.”

Fluffy giggled, “Is it Captain’s turn to get the donuts?”

Rogers looked baffled.  Loki saw Hawkeye look speculatively at Fluffy again.

Fury very firmly continued, “YES, the scepter can do that.  If someone is holding it that knows what they are doing, it’s a mind control device of unimaginable danger. Even if they can’t do that, it‑or a similar object‑ was used to power super weapons in World War Two.” He looked at Logan. “How many people can be trusted with power like that?”

Scott looked over at Ms. Frost. “Why don’t you want it?”

“I do.” She smiled at Anthony handing her a cup of hot chocolate. “Which is why Tony and I agreed that the Hellfire Club cannot retrieve it; I would be unable to resist.” Her smile turned into a threat. “Can you imagine what an actual telepath could do with it?”

Hawkeye started hyperventilating. Loki started to move to him and realized that… might not help.

 Coulson was trying to talk him down when Romanov pushed him aside.

“Clint?  Barton?” Romanov said carefully.

Barton’s eyes were wide and he was frozen against the wall. Loki had rarely felt more helpless. He looked desperately to Anthony for ideas, but Anthony was frozen in place with a tray of drinks.

“Clint…” Romanov’s voice softened, “It’s ok… I’d kill you first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy giggled, “Is it Captain’s turn to get the donuts?”  
> yes she is referencing her fan fiction, "Captain America's new uniform"


	32. Flashbacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashbacks, reassurances, and a few other things

“Clint… It’s ok… I’d kill you first.”

Oddly, that seemed to help.  Clint’s eyes tried to track down to Natasha’s. He was  still plastered back against the wall, breathing too fast, and looking like he wasn’t all there, but he tried to  look at her.

“ _Loki…”_   Tony REACHED down the link.  He felt Loki reach back and contact snapped in. “ _I want you to go find something to do for a few hours, ok?”_

Loki nodded‑ Tony could feel his pain on the link‑and vanished. 

 _“EMMA!”_ He tried to catch her eyes and leaned into her name.

_“There’s no need to shout, Tony, I can hear you.”_

_“Take whoever you need, and go find a place to not be here for a few… please.”_

_“I could help…”_

_“I know for PTSD, Em. Telepathy is the last thing he needs.”_ Tony glanced at Pepper _.  “Have her take you to the debugged conference room. Start briefing. Leave Coulson.”_

She nodded and left, wordlessly gathering people in her wake.

Natasha was talking quietly to Clint: Tony didn’t think it was English; he caught a few words like Budapest, but otherwise stayed back.

Clint was slowly sagging down the wall until he ended up huddled there, with Natasha crouched across from him holding one of his hands.

Coulson was standing there like someone knifed him. “How often…” he whispered.

“Not often,” Natasha said quietly. “At least not this bad.  I… I thought he’d be alright, since he was dealing with him so well.”

Tony came over and sat down next to Clint, with his back to the same wall. “I get those all the time.”

Natasha looked at him oddly. “You do?”

Coulson cleared his throat. “Is… there anything I can do? I feel  useless.”

“Don’t fucking PITY me,” Clint growled.   _Hey, he was responding!_

“I don’t Barton, I just… I just wish things were different,” Coulson said. “I wish I’d been able to come back sooner.”

Tony smiled. “Hey, don’t look at me. I spent most of the last few months in a bottle or trying to kill myself fighting Loki.  Why the hell would I pity you?”

Clint’s head came up.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you… you have everything.”

Tony snorted. “I’m not going to get into comparative sob stories, Clint.”

Natasha leaned forward. “Брат по оружию, can you get up?”

He nodded shakily and Natasha helped him up. Tony stood up and got the coffee he’d been bringing over before everything went wrong.

“Here: sugar, caffeine, and fat, three of the four food groups.”

They got him sitting down at the table‑Natasha sat next to him with their legs on each other, like they did‑ and Tony gave him his coffee.

Coulson sat down looking shaken. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

Clint reached out and grabbed his hand. “I’m glad you’re here NOW.”

Tony cleared his throat. “I told Lo to go find something to do for a few hours.  Emma took everyone else to a conference room.  If you guys are ok here, I think I’ll join them.”

Natasha and Coulson nodded. Clint looked up and smiled shakily at him, “Thanks bro.”

“No prob, bird-brain. I’ll be back later, ok?”

He walked to the elevator as if he wasn’t in a hurry.  He hoped if Coulson and Natasha looked up enough to realize he WAS in a hurry, they’d just put it down to anxiety and discomfort.

It was kind of crowded, even for the big conference room. At least that’s the impression you got from noticing the three X-Men trying to be as far away as possible from Emma Frost, who was just sitting there drinking tea.

“Snowflake, can I borrow you a sec?” He waved casually at everyone.

“Of course, Hugs.” She turned and the smile vanished for a beat before she put it back on. “Problem?”

He smiled, “Nah, just need to go over a couple things about some other Stark Industries personnel.” _Yes, and we have to work fast._

“If you’ll excuse me?” she said politely to everyone, walking over to Tony.

“Pep? Since Clint... isn’t well, can you do the honors and stand in for Lo and me? You’ve got my proxy anyway.” He forced himself to slow down, hoping anyone would put it down to his usual hyper-ness, or Clint having a panic attack in front of him.

“Of course, Tony.”

Tony looked over at Fury, “Since you have all the information about the facility, can you just start briefing them on it? I may be a bit.” He looked around. “I asked Lo to make himself scarce for a few.”

There was a lot of nodding.

“Bruce? I’ll be in my lab.”  He turned to go out, grinned and tossed him his laser pointer.

“What?” Bruce looked bewildered.

“YAY! The red dot!” Fluffy was saying happily as they went out.

Once they were well away from the conference room, Tony picked up the pace. “Jarvis, once we are in the lab, lock it down. No calls, absolutely.  And initiate the full baffles.”

“Yes, Sir. May I ask‑“

“No.” He started running.

They ran into his lab and Tony never even slowed down until he got to the smaller sub-lab he used to sleep in sometimes.

“Do you need me to lie down?” he asked, slinging his jacket over a hook.

“It would be wiser,” Emma admitted.

Tony jumped up on the table. “Here’s what I need‑“

 _“It will be faster to get it from you directly, you idiot.”_ Her voice was affectionate in his head, and it felt somehow like she ruffled his hair.

_“Sorry, still not used to it.”_

_“I’m just touched you trust me.”_

_“I’ve always trusted you, Snowflake.”_

_“You’re too trusting…”_ and the world drifted away into cool mist.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next up: the return of an old character, and spotlight on Captain America (just for a minute)  
> NOTES on this chapter:   
> It has been over 18 years since i took Russian, Natasha is supposedly addressing Clint as a comrade in arms, and i apparently mucked up the translation just assume she is addressing him as "my battle buddy, my fellow warrior"
> 
> i had the issue that i have a plot point here, and its "on camera" but i dont want to spell it out to you. Tony is CERTAINLY trying to imply to the rest of the team that he just needs the telepaths help calming down from a panic attack, but... is more going on? the answer is YES. but i wont tell you what.  
> yet


	33. Officer On Deck!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> returning characters, and Coulson's threat analysis is always right.

Loki spent several hours stalking around his apartment.  He couldn’t go attack any more Hydra bases, lest he alert them. He didn’t dare try to deal with anyone in his current mood. Eventually, he decided it had been long enough and he went back to the tower.

Jarvis took him to the conference room.

“-I’ll want to get some more intel on‑“ Fury cut off as Loki entered the room.

Coulson, Romanov‑his Hawk conspicuous by absence‑ Ms. Potts, Dr. Banner, Rogers, Fury… “Where are the others?”

“Tony is off muttering into computers,” answered Ms. Potts. “Clint is taking a nap. The X-Men left to get started‑“

“Do they have enough information to go on?”

Fury nodded, “I briefed them on the facility, Rogers briefed them on old Hydra tactics, but they were going to start by just gathering intel.”

“And the two ladies?”

Romanov snorted, but Ms. Potts answered, “You actually just missed them. They said they had a spy of their own, related somehow, to deal with. They didn’t give me any details.” She sounded grateful for that.

“That would likely be Pierce,” said Loki drily.

Fury’s fist clenched before he forced his hand open and sat back. “Probably.”

Romanov stated tensely, “With a telepath, they can get through almost any security.”

“Probably.” Fury sounded gruffer than usual.

Coulson shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about Ms. Frost. Fluffy’s the dangerous one.”

The sight of heads swiveling slowly over to stare at Coulson in disbelief was… amusing, even if Loki felt a bit like doing that himself.

“Fluffy?” Dr. Banner sounded incredulous.

Romanov looked speculative at him. “I would have said she was dangerous, but less so than Ms. Frost. Where am I in error?”

“You assume you are in error, Little Spider?” Loki asked, startled.

“Coulson is always right in his threat analysis.” She nodded. “Even if he may get other details wrong.”

Coulson quirked a familiar smile at her. Loki almost felt like he was intruding.

“Thank you, Agent Romanov.” He was using his blandest voice.

“Fluffy said she was dangerous,” sighed Rogers. “It’s just hard to keep that in mind.”

Pepper looked down at the table and back up. “It’s REALLY hard to picture her as being dangerous after I saw her on a leash at the club.”

Loki blinked; so did several other people. “You saw her at the club?” Loki asked, while several other people just said, “What?”

“Tony took me to a couple of their charity events.  One was a costume event and she was dressed up as a cat, with some businessman holding her leash… That was the one where Tony pulled out a laser pointer and sort of ran her into a martini tray. Then she ended up chasing down stray martini glasses under foot for an hour…”

Several people suddenly had looks of dawning comprehension.

“Is THAT where the martini and the lasers got involved?”

Ms. Potts nodded.  “The next time was a non-costume event, and she came in with the same man, but she was still wearing a collar, even if it was a little less obvious.” She paused.  “At least that one looked like gold, and it didn’t have a bell on it.”

Romanov looked thoughtfully at her. “And you are uncomfortable with BDSM…”

“Extremely,” she admitted tensely. “Especially after… after finding out what Tony was involved in.”

Dr. Banner patted her hand sympathetically.

Loki cleared his throat, “Which reminds me, Dr. Banner, I must thank you again for looking after Anthony.”

The door opened. Loki glanced over, saw who it was, and relaxed; so did Romanov.

“CAN we get the analysis now, and the group therapy sessions later?” Fury growled.

“I suspect the group therapy sessions might be a higher priority, based on my limited experience,” said Ms. Vivienne drily, as she closed the door behind herself.

“Who the HELL are you?” Fury asked staring at her.

She was dressed a bit more like a businesswoman, and a bit less like her ‘businesswoman’ outfit‑Loki suspected it was the lack of corset‑ but she still carried herself regally as she came over to a chair next to Ms. Potts.

This time Loki stood up and held her chair for her.  She flashed him a smirk as she sat down.

“Pepper’s new assistant,” she said drily, “Carol Taveras. I’m also a graduate Psychology student.”

“You are?” Dr. Banner blinked at her confusedly.

She smiled warmly and far less threateningly at him, “Yes, Bruce, I am. Working on my PHD.  It’s how Mr. Stark roped me in to working for Pepper: student loans and continuing education coverage.”

“I’m glad you made it,” Romanov said nodding at her.  “I wish you had been here earlier; we could have used another set of eyes.”

“Of course, Natasha. Perhaps I could just watch the video?”

Fury looked annoyed, which probably meant he was bewildered.

Coulson looked thoughtfully at Rogers and Fury before returning his gaze to a spot somewhere in the left corner ceiling of the room, then said, “I take it that was an insufficient introduction.”

“Yes.” Ms. Vivienne‑ Ms. Taveras?‑ said amusedly.

“I best get this settled,” sighed Loki. “Which name do I use?”

“As a junior person, under Pepper Potts‑ who uses her first name extensively, even though I think that’s a poor idea‑ I should be less formal than my superior, so in public? Carol.”

“We are not in public.”

“I’m tempted to say ‘guess’ but rather than confusing things why not stick to either Carol or Ms. Vivienne.”

“WHAT am I missing?” Fury glared at Romanov.

Loki chose to answer instead: “Ms. Vivienne is my consultant on not… accidentally breaking Anthony. After I healed him, she was” – he tensed slightly‑“contacted for assistance; hence, her meeting these two.” He nodded at Banner and Romanov.

Coulson tracked down to look her over. “Dominatrix?” he asked thoughtfully.

“Yes. I am also fairly expert with sharps.”

Coulson raised an eyebrow thoughtfully and looked at Fury. “Which explains why Tony wasn’t HURT” – he glanced at Loki‑“more than he wanted to be.”

Carol nodded pleasantly. “We haven’t been introduced.”

Fury, Coulson, and Rogers were introduced, with a comment about Clint Barton being unavailable at the moment. She nodded.

“Can I strongly suggest that you don’t wait too much longer before HAVING that group counseling session, and the individual ones? Because frankly this group is entirely full of people who need therapy.”

His Hawk slipped into the room quietly and took up his seat between Loki and Romanov.

Loki drily stated, “As was discussed, Anthony had his trust betrayed by a counselor, and is also… touchy… on some subjects, but he did express a willingness to try.”

“I’ve seen counselors, they don’t help,” Rogers admitted quietly.

“They make things worse,” growled his Hawk.

Loki tried to catch his eye but he wasn’t looking at anyone.

“While worse before getting better is not unusual, anything else usually means poor therapy for the problem. What type of therapy have you had?”  She asked, turning those sharply observant eyes on his sharply observant Hawk.

“Type?”

Carol groaned. “Yes, type. There are completely different TYPES of therapy to choose from, based on both the nature of the problem, and the… specific needs and temperament of the patient.”

She looked around at the blank looks.

“I’ve heard that, I think,” said Romanov, hesitantly.

Carol groaned again. “Then none of you have EVER had proper counseling, since the first appointments should be trying to establish a treatment protocol.”

Doctor Banner nodded, “That makes sense.”

Carol took a deep breath and started tapping a pen against the table as she started listing various types of therapy; it was just a blur of letters and names for Loki. “‑And those are ALL potential methodologies for treating PTSD, depending on the patient, and their condition, and the cause of the PTSD,” she stated flatly. “Of course most therapists have their top methods, very much like medical specialists.  You don’t go to a surgeon for physical therapy, but you hope the surgeon has the sense to suggest it if called for.”

“Do you have a security clearance yet?” Fury asked, looking thoughtfully at her.

“No.”

Ms. Potts spoke up, “She has a Stark Industries clearance, of course. She did before Tony introduced us. It’s... um… high.”

“And she was added to the bindings already, of course,” Loki added.

“I just spent the last several days politely cancelling appointments when possible, and beginning the process of moving to one of the apartments in the tower,” she nodded at Romanov. “Security.”

“Well, congratulations, Ms. Taveres, or whoever you are,” Fury said drily. “Owing to the fact that until THEY are all cleared, the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. psychology and medical team is suspect.  You just became the Avengers counseling staff.”

Ms. Vivienne just closed her eyes with a pained expression. “Charming, my qualifications are NOT up to this.” She took a deep breath and looked up pleasantly. “Does that include you, Director Fury?”

“Not on a bet.”

“Do you understand that I take the privacy of my clients extremely seriously?  No one gets anything out of me other than a ‘fit for duty’ or not, unless it is required for safety.”

“Not my problem if you can keep this team working together.”

“THAT isn’t for you to say, Director.” She smiled at him sharply. “As someone’s counselor, my job is to do what’s best for them, and their mental health. Even if that means getting OUT of a group that is bad for them.”

Fury glowered at her; she looked back at him levelly without flinching.

Banner looked worried, and Romanov was looking at her with increasing awe. _So was Coulson_ , Loki thought. His Hawk was watching without betraying any expression.

“Director Fury,” Loki smirked. “You are looking at a woman who got Anthony to be quiet in mid-rant.  I suggest you stop trying to intimidate her.”

“You DID?” Ms. Potts looked stunned at her.

“I would pay good money to see that,” said Coulson quietly.

“Likewise,” Rogers added fervently, looking at her with a bit more respect.

It was at this point that his Anthony skidded in, already talking. “‑so I got the programs set to‑“ He stopped suddenly and stared at  Ms. Vivienne, who was looking at him thoughtfully.

“Uh… right. Hi, uh...”

“Carol or Ms. Taveres,” she said with an excessively polite tone.

“Carol, right, well, I was just‑“

“Is it urgent?”

“Nooo… not really.” Anthony looked EXACTLY like a young student caught running in the library. Loki would have thought it was funnier if he wasn’t getting some of it on the link.

“Then if I may point out that I came up here to remind both you and Ms. Potts that you have a rather important meeting in half an hour.”

Ms. Potts stood up immediately and looked at her watch. “Oh, yes of course! Thank you, Carol.”

“Eh, I’ll skip it, I have work‑“

“Mr. Stark.” THAT voice was Ms. Vivienne: all cold, calm command.  Loki could see every military person in the room suddenly snap to attention, even Fury. “You have stated that your work is not urgent; if I am correct, this meeting is.”

Anthony looked at Loki rather wide eyed for help.

“Ms. Potts, is this meeting urgent?” Loki asked.

“Yes, actually, it is,” Ms. Potts said apologetically. “And it would be immensely helpful if Tony was there since it will involve technical questions.”

“Then, elskan mín, I think you should go.”

“Right, go to a meeting, right.”

“Jacket,” Carol said politely. “Tie.”

“Right, left those in the lab. Be right back.” He turned and went out quickly.

Ms. Potts just looked at Carol, “How did you DO that?”

Rogers muttered, “Can you bottle it?”

“Really, I don’t see the problem.” She smiled sharply. “Tony just needs a bit of…”

“Discipline,” Loki and she said in unison.

Pepper skittered out of the door, while almost everyone else looked at Carol with varying degrees of respect or nerves.

“May I say again what a PLEASURE it is to be working with you?” Romanov smiled cheerfully.

Carol just smiled warmly at Romanov over her StarkPad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, none of these people have ever gotten proper therapy.


	34. Oh Captain , My Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every generation thinks they invented sex.

His Hawk spoke up as soon as the door closed. “That was impressive. Tony usually keeps that side of his personality under wraps.”

“Oh?” Carol said blandly.

Loki sighed, “Everyone present has been informed, except perhaps Coulson, but I think‑“ He glanced at his Hawk.

“I briefed him,” Barton nodded. “Natasha’s right, our background checks need work‑ for that matter, I don’t believe I missed it.” He frowned at Loki briefly before looking back down, “Never saw him go subby around people before you.”

Carol sighed. “Who here is familiar with the scene?”

Fury stated firmly, “Not my thing, but I know some people who are into it.  Call it a second hand familiarity.”

Romanov shrugged, “You know my answer.”

Banner shrugged, “Ditto.”

“I obviously am,” Barton nodded.

“I know my way around,” Coulson shrugged.

Rogers sighed and started to speak but was interrupted by Coulson, “Captain Rogers isn’t familiar with‑“

Rogers cut him off: “Yes, I am.”

Coulson dropped his coffee cup.  Everyone else‑ including Loki, except for Carol‑ froze and stared at him.

“Apparently their background checks need work?” Carol smirked.

“Not exactly. I’m Captain Steve Rogers‑ Captain America.  I… was in suspension for a few decades.”

Coulson had started cleaning up coffee and went over to get a new cup, probably to get his expression straightened out before he turned around too.

Loki decided to stay as quiet as possible and just watch.

“Uh, Cap…” Barton said hesitantly. “You turn purple if anyone even mentions sex.”

Rogers had already been flushing, now it was worse. “Yes, I KNOW that, thanks Clint.”

Coulson, who appeared to have acquired a faint flush on his cheeks, sat back down and sipped his coffee. “What do you mean… what do you mean you’re familiar with the scene?” He was trying ‑and failing‑ to keep an entirely professional blandness in his voice.

“People act like this is all new,” Rogers muttered, flushing.

“It’s not new,” Carol said pleasantly. “What’s new is the way it’s done, how people talk about it, and some of the specific toys.”

Rogers nodded.

“Coffee?” asked Carol.

“PLEASE.”

“Anyone else can get their own, you know,” Carol said drily, coming back with a cup of coffee for Rogers and one for herself.

Fury wiped a hand across his forehead. “So Stark DIDN’T shock you silly? The psychiatrists were afraid that the culture shock was going to be a problem.”

“The culture shock IS a problem,” Rogers stated. “But if you think the idea of people tying each other up for fun is new, you… um... well, it’s not.” He kept his eyes down over his coffee cup.

“You are NOT into that,” Barton said firmly. “No way.”

“I have no idea, I never tried it. I suppose I could, I might actually meet more people,” Rogers said into his cup.

Coulson apparently inhaled some of his coffee. Romanov and Barton started patting him on the back and getting him napkins.

Barton looked at Coulson, smirked, and back at Rogers. “We could introduce you, but not in New York.”

“You two?” Rogers said into his coffee.

Barton lost some of his smile. “We’d only just found out we had similar interests when… “ he trailed off. “Yeah, anyway.”

Carol smiled very sharply. “Let me guess, everyone assumes he is  homophobic, and extremely sheltered, because back in the old days  no one ever  did anything  but straight missionary  after the kids went to bed.”

Banner, sounding a bit dazed, finally said, “Well, yes, basically.”

Rogers snorted and grinned over his coffee cup, blue eyes dancing.

Carol laughed. “So, Captain Rogers…  do you have a problem with people being gay or bi?”

Coulson carefully put his coffee cup down; it had finger dents in it and was leaking coffee. Banner looked stunned. Fury looked stunned. Romanov was rubbing her forehead and cursing quietly in Russian.

“You are shitting me,” Barton  spluttered.

“I don’t know the terms you’re using very well,” Rogers said rubbing the back of his neck.

“They are not precisely defined,” Carol said, smiling. “But in general, if you identify as gay, you have  no interest in the opposite gender sexually, only your own. Bi means you have at least some interest in both.  Pan means you don’t care about what gender your partners are… it’s… fluid.” She looked thoughtfully at him, “Demi sexual means you need an emotional attachment before you get interested at all. Asexual means you generally don’t have any interest in sex.”

Rogers sighed, “Not something I want to be discussing. It’s private.”

“But you don’t have a problem with Tony and Loki having a relationship, obviously.”

Several of the team blinked and Romanov ‘s muttered cursing took up again. 

Loki was suddenly hit by how Rogers had, and hadn’t, reacted. “He expressed great dismay at what I believe people refer to as ‘public displays of affection’, and WHO he was seeing; not the fact that Tony was seeing a man.”

“It’s not NEW!” Rogers sounded frustrated. “You act like sex was invented after the war!”

“Jarvis,” Carol said pleasantly. “Ask Tony to stop back on his way to the meeting.”

“Certainly, Ms. Taveras,” Jarvis answered.

“This is what I meant,” Carol sighed. “No one is talking to each other and everyone is assuming things.”

There was a somewhat hesitant tap on the door and then Anthony walked in. “I GOT the jacket and tie!” he said looking at Carol and waving at himself. _Indeed, he had gotten the Jacket and Tie._

“Quick question before we have to table this,” said Carol pleasantly. “Do you think Captain Rogers is homophobic? Or has issues with your lifestyle?”

“I KNOW he has issues with my lifestyle,” Tony shrugged. “I thought he was homophobic before, but lately I’ve been wondering if he isn’t just terminally shy.”

“Do we HAVE to have this discussion?” Rogers sounded plaintive.

“Yes,” Carol said firmly. “In fact, we will have to have a great deal MORE discussion since apparently you have been all making assumptions. However, for right now… Captain Rogers‑Steve?” Rogers nodded. “Is familiar with the basic concepts that we call BDSM, and doesn’t have a problem with that, or homosexuality.  He has ISSUES with public displays of sexuality‑” she paused. “I’m assuming any kind of public displays?”

“It’s not as hard to deal with if it’s a guy and a girl, but…” Rogers sighed, “It is a LOT more aggressively public than I’m used to.”

“So you DON’T have an issue with…?” Anthony waved at Loki and himself.

“I had an issue with it being Loki,” Rogers said tiredly. “I’m still trying to get used to the knives part, that’s kind of weird for me, but…” He looked back and forth at them and shrugged, “You seem happy, and it doesn’t seem to be hurting you, so if you two could just… not… in front of me? That would be easier.”

Anthony was staring at him in disbelief. “Are you… uh…?”

“No, I’m not kidding. No, I don’t think this is the time or place to discuss my personal life.” He leaned back in his chair. “And NO, sex wasn’t invented after the war.  I’m sure whatever any of you are doing, someone was doing it back in my day.  They just didn’t do it IN FRONT OF ME.” He paused. “Well not in public anyway; some of the guys were pretty blatant on leave.”

Carol smiled. “Like I said, group therapy has a slightly higher priority than you may think, Director Fury.  They’ve gone this long with most of your team hiding things from each other” ‑she nodded at Tony‑ “because they were afraid their teammates would disapprove.  That’s… not going to help your team.”

She glanced down at her watch. “Meeting, Mr. Stark. However, after that I suggest you all sit down for a social hour sometime soon and find out  more about each other.”

“Yeah…” Anthony stared at Rogers in a stunned fashion. “Apparently…  Yeah.”

“Did I mention yet my appreciation for keeping my brother from throwing any more tables around?” Loki asked Rogers.

“No, not really.”

Loki nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Carol stood up. “Well, if you will excuse me, I have to handle the office while Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts are in the meeting.”  She nodded at Romanov. “DO set up a time for me to review those tapes you want eyes on.”  She firmly took Anthony by the elbow and walked him out.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, Steve isn't familiar with the modern BDSM scene, not at all, but...  
> there were bondage comics, and really raunchy novels, and places you could go on leave... that did stuff that was in no way pure, virginal, etc.   
> The music... if you listened to jazz especially (and New York was the center of the music world) the lyrics are things that wouldn't be allowed on the radio today. 
> 
> why yes, i am a music major, why do you ask?
> 
> oh, Carol isn't going to get coffee for the group. Its a one down position unless you are all buddies. she got coffee for herself and one other person, because thats just friendly. (just a minor psych note)


	35. get a room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a really, really good question, but as stated, Coulson's threat analysis is spot on.

After that his Hawk was firmly of the opinion that they all had to talk. Loki agreed.

Fury stated firmly, “I have always believed that it’s a very poor idea for the commanding officer to be TOO closely involved with his units off-hours time.”

Coulson snorted. “That was mostly so you could tell your CO to buzz off.”

Most people just looked quietly between Fury and Coulson. Rogers finally asked, “You served together?”

“Yes,” they both said.

Loki had the distinct feeling of the world spinning slightly before settling in with a ‘click’ as this finally made sense.

“Have you considered telling Anthony?”

“No, why?” Fury  asked with some degree of confusion.

“I think he will understand a bit more of why the two of you act like you are in the same Army, and he’s a prisoner of your war.”

Fury blinked rapidly at him.  Coulson sighed, “That… wasn’t intentional.”

Loki shrugged. “The two of you assume a great deal.  I had thought that was simply commander and officer in S.H.I.E.L.D. but if it predates that…” He thought for a moment. “You used to be closer in rank.”

Coulson nodded. “Back in the days when S.H.I.E.L.D. was something other people worried about.  I knew it was inevitable I’d be involved with it‑ I had family involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D.‑ but we didn’t know he did.”

Fury shrugged, “I didn’t know my father, growing up. Turns out that was partly for our benefit. Being the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t make for a safe family.”

Romanov stated firmly, “No way in hell are you kicking me out of this one.  Also you need vodka.”

“I would prefer not to bring alcohol into Anthony’s home.”

“We each have a floor, “ sighed Barton. “Mine is mostly alcohol free, but I keep a stash of the good Vodka for Nat.”

Barton looked at the ceiling, “Jarvis? Send Tony down to my floor when he gets out, but can you give us a bit of warning to get rid of the booze?”

“I can but try, Agent Barton.”

It was a mostly silent group of people who filed into the elevator and went to a floor that Loki had never been to. There were two choices of door when the elevator opened; Loki noted with dry amusement that they looked like bathroom doors, complete with little plaques‑ however, most bathroom plaques didn’t have the male figure holding a bow, and the female figure with a raised knife.

Rogers laughed. “You left the Tony plaques?”

Romanov and Barton both just shrugged. “Why not, it was funny.”

Barton palmed the security pad and opened the door.  Whatever Loki had been expecting, this wasn’t it.

There were targets apparently placed at random on walls, ceiling, doors, varied in size from the size of a coin to the size of a plate. There were rather random looking piles of pillows, a bed off to the side, which looked entirely untouched, and a large number of platforms at various heights along the walls. One area was shielded from view by some folding screens.

The only ‘usual’ furniture was the bed and what appeared to be a series of dressers doing double duty as some kind of buffet or side board along one wall.

The only person who looked familiar with this room was Romanov.  She walked directly over to a closet, opened it, climbed the shelves, and came back down with two bottles.

Coulson was looking around in some bewilderment. “This… doesn’t look like your space.”

Barton looked thoughtfully at him. “Mostly left it the way Tony gave it to me. Just added a few things.” His eyes slid over to the screen. “I’m guessing you want your couch back.”

“What?”

Barton waved a remote of some kind at it. The screen folded itself neatly into the wall, revealing a  large television and  random game controllers on a low table, a somewhat battered looking sofa, an office desk, and a chair.

Loki glanced at the others: Romanov was ignoring them and apparently pulling beer  and soda bottles out of dresser drawers, Rogers and Banner were standing looking bewildered, but Fury and Coulson were staring at the sofa and desk.

“How did you duplicate my office furniture? WHY did you duplicate my office?” Coulson sounded a bit strangled.

“Uh, it’s not a duplicate. We stole it.” He glanced at Romanov, “I couldn’t deal with anyone else using your desk and… I spent a lot of time on that sofa.”

Fury pinched his nose and muttered something about super powered teenagers.

Romanov shrugged, “It was mostly awkward, really.  It’s hard to smuggle office furniture.”

She fell back into a pile of pillows and waved at the collection of bottles. “Grab your choice and make yourself comfortable.”

“Why are we here again?” Banner muttered.

Loki sighed, “We are here because my consultant has pointed out that we are, all of us, working with assumptions instead of facts.”

Rogers sighed. “I REALLY don’t think my personal life is… anything but personal.”

Barton shrugged. “Ok, so I won’t ask, but I gotta say, I never thought you would be ok with Tony going out with a guy.  Looking back on it, no you didn’t object to the guy part, just… who.”

Banner nodded, “Tony has a lot of issues about his personal life. When we found out about… um… how he liked to…”

“Play?” suggested Barton.

Banner nodded, “With edges and BDSM, Tony expected us all to react very badly.”

Loki nodded and took a sip of his drink. “He has only rarely found anyone accepting his interests.  I can sympathize.”

Romanov took a long pull of her vodka. “Pepper told me the therapist he tried to talk to ended up selling some of his information.  He would have sold more but they managed to get some blackmail on him and it ended up in sort of mutual standoff.  After that he wouldn’t see any therapists.”

The reaction all around was vehemently negative, Loki was glad to see.

Coulson shrugged, “As a submissive of any sort he would run into issues.  People are far more forgiving of someone being the dominant partner.”

Fury looked thoughtful. “We went over that a little, but just how bad would these issues be?”

Coulson shrugged, “Depends on the audience.  In the military? Bad.  I can’t speak to the technology business, but military supply?  BDSM as the top would be fine, not as a sub.”

Barton sighed, “And the harder core the BDSM interests are? The worse it is for some folks.  You get into handcuffs and not too many people freak.  You get into flogs and it’s another story.  Tony is into some of the really hard play from what we’ve heard.” He glanced at Loki. “And that’s not even going into the gay part of it.”

Rogers, who appeared to have become permanently rather pink, said, “I don’t see why there is any need to talk about it.”

Fury sighed, “Because she was right. The FACT that Stark kept this all hidden from his team led directly to a lot of these issues.  I hate to say it but we are DAMNED lucky, because this could have gotten people killed.”

“Well,”  Rogers  said, “I don’t CARE what any of you do, as long as I don’t have to be involved in it.  My main concern about Tony is that what he does sounds dangerous.” He looked over at Loki, “Since you apparently  can heal him up, and it’s all ok between you two, and  you aren’t using that against us, then it’s  not my business.” He rubbed his forehead, “Can you just… not in front of me? It’s awkward as heck.”

“While I suspect Anthony may be happy to embarrass you, I don’t have an issue with you.  I admit that causing THOR to flee the room is amusing.”

Banner looked thoughtful, “I suspect, Steve, that part of the issue is how unfamiliar you are with modern  movies and  so on tends to make people assume you aren’t familiar with anything they think of as being ‘modern’. “

“Nothing you are talking about is ‘modern’.”

Banner nodded, “You’re right. As you said, it isn’t new.”

“Right. So can we talk about something else now?” Rogers asked somewhat desperately.

Romanov looked up from her sprawl in the pillows. “I’d like to talk about why Phil thinks Fluffy is the dangerous one, not the telepath.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, severe depression leads to you not really personalizing your room much.
> 
> also, please read the http://archiveofourown.org/works/5045194 reading lists and resources, specifically Chapter 7.  
> TL;DR version? Nick Fury in this story is Nick Fury JR... and served in the military with Coulson


	36. Cat Analysis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conversations turn to the topic of Fluffy, and Fan Fiction

 “I’d like to talk about why Phil thinks Fluffy is the dangerous one, not the telepath,” Romanov said. Most people seemed rather happy to switch topics.

Coulson nodded. “All right, first let’s go over the facts‑ not how she behaved, not how she ‘seemed’‑ tell me what you talked about.”

“We went over tactics, threat analysis, death statistics, and stuff like that, mostly,” Barton said.

“She correctly noted,” Loki nodded at the two spies, “that having a number of their people die in car accidents would be noticed.”

“ ‘Statistically anomalous’, she said,” Captain Rogers added. “If they had good computer analysis they would pick it up in a very short time.”

“She came up with the idea of framing one of their own. Said it worked well with paranoid conspiracy types.” Fury nodded. “She also referenced preferring appendicitis attacks and ‘collateral damage from gang fights’ over stabbing or electrocuting people.”

Banner spoke quietly into his soda, “She knew far too much about me. Apparently the Hellfire Club sponsored some research I was involved in‑ and that’s terrifying‑ but she knew the title off the top of her head, and seemed to understand it.  She deduced that I was the Hulk… and she talked me down out of changing.”

“How?” asked Coulson.

“She asked me a technical question about how the green appearance was spreading through my system.”  Banner sighed, “I had to think about it.” He frowned slightly. “I think it helped that she just stood there like… like nothing was wrong.”

Loki decided to add in a few notes: “She had no fear of you at all that I could tell, Doctor, even knowing who, or what, you were.  She seemed pleased, in fact.”

“Called him ‘big, green, and gorgeous’,” Rogers nodded.

“She also showed no fear of Logan,” Loki nodded. “Her concern mostly seemed to be avoiding a fight between him and anyone else. From what she said, she seemed certain that she could have taken him down in combat.”

“She said heroes were harmless,” Romanov nodded.

Coulson held up a hand. “Let’s look at what we know.  Logan is”‑he glanced at Fury‑“extremely dangerous?”

“Extremely lethal.” Fury corrected. “Hard to take down in the extreme, and as she said, he regenerates.” Fury glanced at Rogers, “Much stronger, tougher, and hardier than Captain Rogers, but also more violent, erratic, and less able to work well with others.”

Coulson nodded, “But they both confirmed that in a fight where he was taking on other opponents, she had hit them with one blast of energy, killed the others, and knocked him down to the point that she COULD have taken the time to cut his throat.”

Loki watched everyone   as THAT tidbit of information settled into place. _Logan had agreed that she had taken him down, and he hadn’t argued over her ability to have cut his throat…IF she had chosen to._

“Logan didn’t deny it,” Fury said thoughtfully. “He just talked about her whining and crying.”

“Like it was a lucky shot, and didn’t matter because people do crazy things when they’re scared,” Coulson agreed grimly. “Except as we SAW her demonstrate, that was an act.”

Romanov looked wistful, “I wish I could tear up that easily.”

Loki nodded, “That was beautiful, truly.” He smiled faintly, “I would not have considered to call Logan a ‘teddy bear filled with knives’, but she evidently had no fear of him, whether it was because ‘heroes are harmless’ or her ability to take him down.”

Coulson sighed. “She asked Ms. Frost if she ‘got to kill anyone yet’ while hugging Dr. Banner and talking about taking him off for milkshakes and to brush his hair.” He looked up at the ceiling, “She acts like she’s  a kid around you all, but she was asking if she was going to get to do something she enjoyed and thought was fun; that is… kill people. 

“She also has a demonstrated track record of taking out someone who is stronger and tougher than a super soldier, is some kind of energy generator and the Inner Circle’s assassin.  In other words, she is a super powered version of Natasha…”

He smiled grimly, “Who is a convincing enough actress to make you forget that even when she tells you.”

Barton and Romanov looked at each other.  Finally Barton said to Romanov, “Your harmless act is one of your best weapons.”

Rogers nodded, “It’s just hard to keep that in mind with ‘the kid who climbed on my shoulders and was eating a cookie’.”

Fury nodded slowly, “Her tactical analysis, and choice of targets, was very professional, but the WAY she talked about it made it hard to take her seriously.”

Coulson nodded, “And the fact that she  is in the club on a leash and collar; the fact that she chases laser pointers and acts like a rather distractible child, IS  either  truthful‑in which case, with the combination of childish innocence and lethality, you have  some serious mental issues there‑ or such a practiced act  that it’s seamless.”

Everyone was sitting thoughtful for a while until his Hawk decided to lighten the mood.

Barton grinned, “Well, she’s not a kid and she’s not innocent. I’ve read her Fan Fiction, I’m pretty sure.”

Loki looked curiously over, “Ah? You were looking at her oddly here and there.”

“She said she wrote fan fiction.” Banner said.

“I wasn’t sure who she was until she mentioned it being Captain Rogers turn to get the donuts.” He grinned, “Admittedly she might have only read that one, but, since it was written by FluffyIsACatGirl, I’m willing to bet it was her writing.  That one is pretty tame.”

“What one?” Rogers asked.

“The one where Loki throws a spell at Iron Man, but Captain Rogers got in the way and it turned his uniform selectively invisible.”

Rogers flushed. “That one is tame?”

“Yup. The one where  Black Widow  gets me Warren‑Angel‑ as a bondage birthday present  was probably one of my favorite  Hawkeye fictions.” He grinned, and then frowned, “I still wanna know what I ever did to her that she inflicted Tony as a slave on me.”

“WHAT?”

“There’s a fan fic with the Avengers where Tony finds out…” He looked around and sighed. “Look, it’s fan fiction.  In any event, Hawkeye ends up having to try to keep Tony as a sub, basically.  She got one thing right: if it wasn’t his idea, that was going to blow up.  She had him put me in the hospital.”

“You appear to be very familiar with her writing,” Fury said drily.

He shrugged, “I like to know what people say about us.  Some of its pretty hot, most of its stupid.”  

Loki had to agree with that, having read some.

Barton sat forward, “The thing that I realized AFTER I met her was that unlike any of the rest of them‑ I hope‑ she actually had access to real information, but NONE of it is in the fan fiction. The only person she routinely uses a real name for is Tony; the only other one is Steve, even though a lot of us have our names public.  She wrote about Angel‑Warren‑ as a member of the X-Men, even had him protesting they weren’t bad guys, but never even gave him a made up name.”

_Interesting; quite courteous of her, in fact._

He grinned and sat back, “But believe you me, she isn’t innocent. Admittedly her fan fic isn’t the really explicit stuff; she tends to just talk about the sex‑she made a big point about how frustrated Tony was with Black Widow and Hawkeye having loud sex in the hospital bed next to him”

Rogers actually whined faintly.  Banner looked amused and embarrassed.

“But her writing includes Male/Female, Male/Male, BDSM‑oh yeah, and the Hulk fucking an Iron Man suit as a sex doll.”

When Banner finally finished mopping the soda off his shirt, and was able to breathe again, he glared at Barton, “You deliberately waited until I was drinking.”

“Yeah.” Barton grinned.

Coulson looked a bit relieved, and Romanov was grinning behind her drink, so obviously this was more typical behavior for his Hawk‑ off duty at least.

“She did NOT actually…”

“Yeah, yeah she did.” Barton grinned, “It was another sex pollen/villain thing. It’s a trope… the villain exposes the heroes to a lust inducing drug.” He looked thoughtful, “Some of them are pretty good; most of them are just awful; hers was funny.”

“Funny?!”

“Yeah, like the villain is all ‘You fools! I will destroy your team!‘ and the heroes are mostly ‘Oh, another villain and more sex  pollen, again?’ –it’s funny.”  He shot an amused glance at Banner. “Of course since I doubt she knew the Hulk COULD turn human, but even if she did she wasn’t writing it, that left the question of the HULK on sex pollen.  Which admittedly is a potentially terrifying concept.”

Banner actually got a bit pale and sat down.

“She solved it in the funniest way, though.  Apparently the Hulk thinks the Iron Man SUIT… not Tony, the SUIT, is sexy.  So….”

“Oh. Yeah, that would work.”

“Sorry, doc. I didn’t mean to bug you.”

He smiled tightly, “Remember that group discussion we were supposed to have?”

“Yeah?”

“If my pulse rate or metabolism goes too high I change.”

“We know that…”

“That, um... includes sex.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES all the fan fiction Hawkeye references has been published under my FluffyIsACatGirl psuedonym  
> http://archiveofourown.org/series/592879


	37. TMI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About bonds, fan fiction, personal hot buttons, and new arrivals
> 
> _May i remind people that i suffer from depression and severe anxiety? please try to be careful in your comments_

 

Banner looked around at the shocked looks. “Well, I’m guessing that was news?”

Fury finally said, slowly, “I wondered, based on some files, but I didn’t KNOW.”

He looked at Loki, “YOU didn’t know?”

“No,” Loki said, feeling rather puzzled. “How would I know?”

“Tony knew. We discussed it as part of understanding how this worked, and precautions to take. I assumed that meant you knew.”

“Ah.” Loki nodded, “I understand the problem. You may recall Anthony saying that I did not share a great deal of information about agent Barton with him?    The fact that Anthony knew this about you, Doctor, is news to me.  Admittedly, I did not try to pry; we both value our privacy‑what’s left of it.  So, no, I did not know.”

“How…” Barton shifted uneasily. “How does that bond and the telepathy work anyway?” The last few words came out in a rush.  Romanov moved over and draped her legs across Barton’s lap.

Coulson looked thoughtfully at Barton and then once again fixed his eyes on a distant point on the wall, “It does seem that you have a great deal more control over it than Stark does.”

“I do, but that has nothing to do with the bond itself.”

“Could you explain?” Coulson asked politely.

“The BOND is between equals, which is why some information that each of us wished to remain private… leaked.  It is also why harming either of us would be disastrous.  If it was _…” Well, they were trying to be honest._  “If it was what I had intended, it would be different, but what’s done is done.” He looked thoughtfully down at his drink, “I truly cannot even regret it; it simply isn’t what I had planned.”

Rogers laughed shortly, “Well a lot of battle plans end up as ‘it worked, I guess that’s the important part’.  So can you explain why it seems so uneven?”

“Because I am much older than Anthony, more experienced at closing my thoughts, adept at magic… I simply have more skills.”

He looked around and tried to find an analogy. “If you gave two soldiers a weapon, equal in every way, but one was combat trained, and one was not?”

Many nods around the room showed that analogy had been understood.

Loki recollected the incident that Anthony simply referred to as ‘knives or gravy’ and grinned.

“Ok, what?” Rogers asked him. “You have this look…”

“You have asked that I not discuss such things in front of you.”

“I’m tired, I’m about out of blush-ability for the day, so I may regret this, but go ahead.”

Loki looked around and shrugged. “Very well. I tied Anthony to the sofa…”

Romanov nodded, “I saw that. You had the sofa tipped up, and Tony tied to it standing.  No audio available.”

“He was being… recalcitrant.”

Banner looked concerned, “He didn’t want to? Why didn’t you stop?”

“No, Doctor, he wanted to; he simply didn’t want to BEG.” Loki grinned. 

Banner flushed and looked back at his soda. “Oh.”

Barton shook his head, “If I hadn’t seen him go all subby with you, I wouldn’t believe you could get him to.  Wheedle, sure.  Beg? No.”

“I therefore sat down and pointed out that given that he was  tied to a sofa, frustrated, and had all the patience of a child… and I was  older, not frustrated, holding the knife, and NOT tied to a sofa, that I had the superior bargaining position.” Loki’s eyes crinkled up as a broad grin stole over his face.

“Is there audio available on that?” Romanov asked somewhat wistfully.

Coulson looked a bit flushed, “That…”

Barton laughed, “Ok, that’s dirty pool. Really awesome dirty pool, but dirty pool.”

“I gave him a choice between being cut, and having gravy poured over him.” Loki could still hear Anthony’s very sincere pleas.  _After all, that had let me charge the ritual blade_.

“OH! That’s what he meant by ‘this is knives or gravy again”?” Barton grinned, wickedly. “Two choices, but you can’t have both?”

“T…M…I…” Rogers said firmly.

Loki shrugged, “You asked.”

“I regret it.”

“Why not both?” Romanov cocked her head at him.

“Because if I mixed food products and sharps, I feared Ms. Vivienne would spontaneously appear in the penthouse?” Loki said drily.

Romanov  grinned.

Loki looked around and shrugged, “Ms. Vivienne spent a great deal of time and emphasis educating me on infection risk.  You humans are… remarkably fragile.”

Banner blinked at him, “You don’t get infections?” _Ever the doctor…_

“We can, but… not like you do.  Ms. Vivienne was rather emphatic on clean techniques.” Loki frowned as he remembered things. “For that matter, what WERE you all thinking to allow Anthony back out in combat before he had healed?”

Fury looked at him and shook his head, “The last time we tried to get Stark to follow the rules and behave himself was the unfortunate incident with the Taser threat.”

The bottle in Loki’s hand shattered.

He took a deep breath, “My apologies for the mess.” A swirl of green light collected the bottle fragments, and the liquid, and deposited it in the trash.  Loki looked down at the few drops of blood on his hand, and the cuts closed over.

“Right. Anyway….” Barton said hurriedly, “So, Fluffy is REALLY good at the harmless act, but we have proof that she is capable of taking out several people‑ one of them super soldier plus‑ in one shot, right?” Everyone nodded. “And she can cry on demand, and generally acts like a hyper kid on a sugar rush.”

Coulson nodded. “Even telling you all that she is an assassin, and that she was a mutant‑someone with considerable super powers‑ didn’t put a dent in the fact that you all responded to her act.  She’s insanely dangerous.”

Jarvis spoke up, “Incoming call.”

“Lo?” Anthony’s voice questioned from the speakers, “Are you ok?”

“Yes, of course, Anthony. Why?”

“My hand hurt and I felt like you were angry.”

Loki bit back a curse, “I got upset and broke a bottle. It is nothing.”

“Where are you?”

Barton answered, “My room, Tony.”

“Yeah, well… give me fifteen, I’ll be right up.”

Jarvis said politely, “Call ended.”

Everyone was looking at Loki.  Fury said, “He felt that?”

“He… really shouldn’t have. It wasn’t major.” Loki frowned, “This will require looking into.”

Everyone cleaned up the bottles‑except Romanov, who no one asked to give up her vodka‑ and Jarvis delivered several snack trays and more soft drinks.

Loki tried to figure out why such a trivial injury would have carried down the link, and they waited for Anthony.

Anthony came in only a few minutes later than he’d said. “Sorry, I… had… to… Hey, Clint? Uh, do you need more money for furniture or something?”

“Well, now that we’re, um, talking about stuff…” Barton said, with a rather sly grin, “I could ask you if you wanted to make a group purchase on some BSDM furniture, I’ve got expensive tastes and an insufficient paycheck.”

Anthony‑and Loki truthfully‑ both stopped and were thinking pleasant thoughts about that.

“Ahem,” Banner cleared his throat. “So I may have assumed that at least Loki knew about the pulse rate issue.”

“What?” Anthony blinked.

“The fact that sex is off the table.  It came up”‑ Anthony snickered, and Banner, Loki, Rogers, and Fury all glared at him‑“while we were discussing Fluffy.”

“Fluffy? Oh, my favorite cat girl. Yeah? What about her?”

“She writes fan fiction,” Barton answered. “Including a really funny take on the sex pollen trope.”

“Really? Because most of those are skanky.” Anthony  wrinkled his nose.

“Yeah, hers had us all in a villain’s clutches, and she got YOU down to a T, man. Now that I know she knows you, I can see how she got the snark down.”

Anthony had been looking a bit worried until he said “snark”.  “Oh? Like what?”

“You spent the majority of the time going ‘Oh great, it’s a Bwahahaha’ and whining that Pepper was gonna kill you because you PROMISED her she could be in the next one.”

Anthony winced. Barton flinched. “Sorry.”

Loki pulled Anthony over and chewed on his neck by way of reassurance.

It was at that moment that Jarvis announced that Thor was arriving. _Why did the oaf always have to arrive just when he and Anthony were getting comfortable?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yup a mostly chatty chapter. next chapter you get some new folks and people get news...  
> assuming i can get up after taking one of my anxiety meds.


	38. Unwelcome Reunions (CORRECTED)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guys, my utter apologies. this is the correct chapter.

“Show him up,” Barton said.

“Mr. Odinson has company in attendance, Agent Barton. I believe they need to be added to the bindings.”

“Ok,” Anthony said, “back up to my floor.”

Fury asked, “Company?”

“A Dr. Foster and a Ms. Lewis, Director Fury.” Jarvis answered.

“OH! Cool,” Anthony brightened up. “I’ve corresponded with Jane on some stuff… C’mon, Bruce.”

Anthony raced up to the penthouse. Barton was looking at Coulson and they both looked… unhappy.

“What is wrong?”

Coulson sighed. “I got off on the wrong foot with them.  It has never been simple.”

Everyone went upstairs.  Barton muttered something about air vents and vanished.

It went to hell approximately ten seconds after they arrived.

Dr. Foster slapped Loki across the face, “Bastard!”

“Probably.” Loki wasn’t really upset with her, honestly. It would take someone with some backbone to stand up to Thor; the problem of course was what Thor had been telling them up until now.

Before he had a chance to react both of them were yelling at Loki about his mistreatment of Thor, and Loki started losing his temper.

“My mistreatment of THOR?”

“I’m sorry, brother. I told them what I understood…”

This ended up in a multi-direction screaming match. Coulson and Fury tried to intervene which turned out to be a mistake, because apparently if there was anyone  that Doctor Foster hated more than Loki, it was Agent Coulson.

“You’re the bastard who abducted Thor and threatened our research project!”

“YOU!  You’re the bastard who stole all of our NOTES!” Ms. Lewis, a curvaceous woman in a rather nice scarf shouted.

Then both of them were going off about Doctor Selvig, and S.H.I.E.L.D. kidnapping people, and holding their research hostage.

That got Banner and Anthony wading in, and in short order Loki retreated since it seemed unrelated to him.  They were using terms that sounded drily legal at volumes and intonations that implied insults to one’s ancestors.

Thor was in full retreat himself, across the room.  Romanov was nowhere to be seen‑ _smart little spider_ ‑ and Loki decided that the bar seemed like a nice solid place to be.  That was when he discovered that indeed, there was a small alcove and a bit of bedding back there, currently occupied by Barton.

“Hey,” Barton said quietly.

“You appear to have had the correct idea.”

“Foster hates Coulson’s guts and Fury by association.”

“Given that they were working with Selvig when I observed last time…”

“Uh-huh. Notice that Dr. Foster was NOT there when you showed up?”

“I hadn’t considered…”

“Right. At some level in the mess, S.H.I.E.L.D. decided that the two scientists should be kept in separate research areas, and dumped Foster off in the boonies working on paperwork, while Selvig got the hands on stuff…  And the big budget.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘Oh’.”

Loki handed him down a ginger ale.

“I should fucking TASE your ass!” shrieked Lewis.

Barton’s head came up and he dropped the glass scrambling out from under the bar

“NO!” His Anthony sounded extremely distressed, Loki looked over. “No GOD DAMNED TASERS IN MY BUILDING, never, no. Hand it over.”

“I have a right to defend myself!”

“No Tasers in my building, ever. You and Agent there hand them over or get out!” Anthony was shouting… _and he had a repulsor glove out, marvelous._

“Oh Jesus, Loki… you get yours, I’ll get mine.” Barton started moving, as did Loki although he was uncertain what exactly his Hawk had in mind.

“FINE, I didn’t want to be here anyway!” Lewis was screaming at him.

Loki reached Anthony and picked him up.  Anthony reacted on instinct and tried to blast him‑ luckily Loki was expecting it‑ but it did end up in a struggle.

Barton meanwhile had expertly wrestled the Taser‑ _when had she drawn a Taser?_ ‑ out of Ms. Lewis’ hands and twisted her arms behind her back, she was attempting to kick him, and apparently using her hair as  a flail.

“ANTHONY!” Loki pushed on the link and Anthony settled just slightly.

“I’m gonna throw them all out a god damn window!” he snarled.

“In your FUCKING DREAMS, Stark!” screamed Lewis.

Barton hauled her up off her feet by the arms behind her back, “Language, Darcy, you’re embarrassing me.”

“Clint?” she said in a normal tone, ceasing to struggle immediately.  The transition was so abrupt it brought everything else to a halt.

He put her feet back down on the ground. “I’m going to let go of your arms.”

He did, she spun around and stared at him.  “Oh my God, CLINT!” and she plastered herself against him in a kiss.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Coulson said mildly.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, so... I'm not dealing well with negative comments. the last time i was off line for over a month. So here is your Friday update early.  
> I'll post the next update on Christmas i hope  
> SERIOUSLY... constructive criticism is hard enough. "Your ability to write sucks and i dont like your pacing" just makes me want to drop the entire thing and leave.  
> EDITED TO ADD: yeah i am feeling slightly better. yes i have depression and anxiety.


	39. There Ought To Be A Form for That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mea Culpe. i apparently posted this chapter twice, in fact... chapter 38 was accidentally skipped  
> i have now corrected it, so please feel free to go back and read the corrected chapter 38-39.
> 
> I would like to apologize for Tony... he tends to say idiotic things.  
> and Clint WAS there for the events in Thor

Tony about went into shock when the deranged Taser girl plastered herself on Clint and started kissing him.  Then she pulled herself back and started yelling at him about not coming to visit.

“I wasn’t well, Darcy.”

“I was WORRIED about you, you Sonof‑“  She was cut off as Clint pulled her back into a kiss, holding both her hands _behind… her… back…_

“Loki? Are you…” _seeing this?_

“He did tell me to ‘get yours, while I get mine’, now that I think on it,” Loki said sounding a bit confused. “However, I thought he was more interested in men…”

“With her rack? She could turn a gay guy straight,” Tony said.

Coulson cleared his throat. “I wasn’t aware you were that well acquainted with Ms. Lewis, Agent Barton.”

“Darcy?!” Doctor Foster sounded scandalized.

Clint let her up for air, at which point she flushed a great deal and tried to wiggle loose.

“No,” Clint said looking down at her amusedly.

“Jesus, Clint, people are watching!”

_Now she cares?_

“Yeah, about that,” Clint said smirking. “Tony? I’d like you to meet Darcy; Darcy, meet Tony. I’m gonna suggest to TONY’s dom that if you two bratty subs don’t apologize, we tie you both up and leave you stew for a few hours.”

“What?!” Darcy snapped her head up and tried to twist around to look at Tony.

“WHAT?!” Doctor Foster was sputtering.

Clint grinned evilly down at Darcy. “Given that LOKI is Tony’s dom… this could get really interesting.”

“What?” Darcy stared up at him.

“Uh, hi.” Tony cleared his throat. “Do I take it we need to have way more briefing here?”

Clint let Darcy go.  She backed up several steps and turned around, and since EVERYONE had been looking at that little scene, she was facing everyone staring at her. “Uh… hi? Ummm….”

“Darcy?!” _If Doctor Foster’s eyes got any bigger they would be anime_. “Isn’t he one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?!”

Tony sighed, “Jane Foster, this is Agent Clint Barton‑ Hawkeye of the Avengers.  He was captured, along with Selvig, during the invasion.”

“Yes, by LOKI!” Foster said glaring back at Loki.

“I did try to tell you, my brother was not himself…” Thor said sounding entirely too guilty.

“Undoubtedly after telling them all about my horrible behavior for months.” Loki sighed.

Darcy looked confused back at Clint, “If you were kidnapped with Selvig… by HIM…”

“It’s a long story, Darcy. Short form?  He was using mind control on US, but someone had already used it on HIM.” Clint shrugged. “Now we’re working on defending against THAT guy, but in the meantime we found some other problems.”

“And you wouldn’t visit?”

“Because I was so depressed, I wasn’t safe,” Clint said tiredly.

“Oh,” she said in a small voice.

Clint got up, took her hand, and walked over to Tony and Loki. “So, Darcy here is into violet wands, ropes, and flogs. Tony is into sharps‑“

Tony cut in, “Ropes are awesome.” _Right, he needed to buy Loki more ropes: lots more._

“Sharps are scary,” she said.

Tony looked at a stubborn, smart‑ and willing to draw a Taser on an Avenger‑sub, and grinned. “So, you’re another in the ‘I’ll submissive you right in the face’ club?”

“Yeah,” she grinned up at Tony. _Her cleavage was impressive_. “You?”

Loki smiled faintly, “He goes out in public and blows things up, what do you think?”

“Pax?” she said dubiously sticking out a hand.

“Pax.” Tony grinned, “But seriously, no Tasers.  At least not pointed at me, ever.  I have a pacemaker.”

Her eyes widened, “OH! Oh shit… sorry!”

“Yeah, Coulson threatened me with a Taser, too.”

“So no violet wands?”

Tony shook his head, “No, I get enough shocks working on my armor.”

“Darcy Lewis!” Doctor Foster was pinching the bridge of her nose. “Do you mean to tell me the entire time we have been fighting with S.H.I.E.L.D. you have been‑“

“Consorting with the enemy?” Darcy grinned, “I prefer to think of it as going deep undercover to gain valuable intel.”

Clint rolled his eyes.

Tony looked around, “Ok, how about we all sit down and hear how THIS happened?”

“I would be intrigued to hear it,” Natasha said, _apparently having phased into existence or some shit._

After everyone got seated‑ and Darcy was sitting in Clint’s lap, which seemed to utterly bewilder Doctor Foster and  confuse Thor, Steve studiously looking  the other way‑Coulson  cleared his throat again, “So, Agent Barton: you appear to have  cultivated a relationship with someone in the opposing camp…”

Tony was fairly certain that was sarcasm, but it was hard to tell. _Wait, maybe that was a gay joke?_

Clint grinned, “I was following her, she noticed, she tried to Tase me‑“

“He actually batted the Taser leads aside, it was like a movie!”

“‑and I asked her out for coffee.”

“He bought me donuts.”

“And seeing as how there were basically no other young single people around…“ Clint grinned.

“We ended up seeing each other,” Darcy concluded.

We’re not exclusive or anything,” Clint said, “but I was seeing her when I could, right up until everything went to hell.”

Loki was looking puzzled at him.  Clint looked over, and shrugged. “I said mostly.”

“Could you expand on the inside references, Agent Barton?” Fury said tiredly.

“As you know, Director, my interest in BDSM cuts across gender lines.” Clint shrugged. “I had explained to Loki that my general preference is male.”

Coulson stared at Fury, “YOU knew that, and didn’t tell ME?”

“And this is where I left the last time, isn’t it?”  Carol said as she walked out of the elevator.

“I am beginning to understand, Ms. Taveras, the insistence on having that counseling session,” said Fury tiredly.

Tony nodded, “We need a form. Three lines for name, other name, other- other name, and what your ID says…”

Coulson smiled faintly, “Not enough lines.”

Clint laughed, “Check box for which psychological problems you have?”

Tony nodded solemnly, “Assumed lousy parenting unless this box is checked; that will simplify it.”

Bruce smirked, “Super powers: yes, no, you aren’t cleared for that.”

“Current relationship status,” Darcy cackled. “It’s complicated, it’s REALLY complicated, and ‘just no’…”

“I think I’m lost,” Doctor Foster said plaintively looking at Thor, who just shrugged.

“And we’ve found the token straights,” sighed Carol.

Rogers just said quietly, “I think I’m in a different CATEGORY of problems.”

Carol looked around at everyone. “Right. Can we please put a priority on finding out if there are any competent psychologists who AREN”T working for the enemy, who can be added to the bindings? Because quite frankly this group needs more than one therapist.  In the meantime, I’m going to strongly suggest that you at least compare notes as to who shares similar issues, so you can actually form some support groups?”

Clint looked thoughtful. “Alcoholic parents?” Hands went up: Tony, Bruce, Darcy, Clint.

Tony shrugged, “One or both parents missing, dead, or out of contact?” _Shit, that was everyone but Thor and Doctor Foster‑ even Fury had a hand up._

“Does it count if I didn’t know I was adopted until later?” Loki smiled tiredly.

Carol looked pained. “You do understand that JUST those two questions would warrant some kind of therapy?” She took a deep breath. “Right. Jarvis, please pull up a scheduling program.  We are going to set up support groups twice a week, once I figure out what the priorities are, and I need to speak to everyone individually to get at least some IDEA of what I am working with.

“Mr. Stark?  I am going to suggest a list of books, which will be added to as we go, for a common reading list.  You may want to order in some copies to have on hand.

“I am going to need a great deal more coffee.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> truthfully, JUSt those two questions would warrant counseling. now add in PTSD and guilt trauma? yeah, woah.
> 
> ps, i am very very proud of the "submissive you right in the face" line


	40. She is a PhD Candidate, you know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> apparently somebody paid attention...
> 
> My apologies, with all the stress i apparently mis entered chapter 38, so it has now been corrected. by way of apology this chapter is going up early (Monday's chapter)

People scattered to set up appointments with Carol, and she sent out for the first round of books.  Much to everyone’s surprise she also recommended some Cracked articles on  what growing up poor, or with lousy parents, does to you, which Tony scanned through, and had to admit were pretty spot on.

After Doctor Foster and Darcy were put under the bindings, Clint apparently had a reunion with Darcy that ended up with her looking extremely relaxed and draped bonelessly over the furniture the next morning at breakfast, while Clint himself seemed to have gained her lost energy. Apparently the only thing saving Jane’s sanity was dealing with the science puppies and Bruce.

Tony was not expecting Fury to show up for breakfast, but he did. He apparently had EVERYONE show up for breakfast except Pepper and Carol. From the way he kept looking dubiously at them, it was possible Jane and Darcy being there was accidental. Jane glared at him- Darcy ignored him.

“Well, as of now, the Avengers are officially on high alert.”

“Officially?” Natasha asked.

“Officially. Director Pierce was killed last night in a suspicious explosion. The FBI are investigating it, but given his political status the secret service are involved, and of course S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Why doesn’t anyone look surprised?” Darcy asked. “I mean except us new people.”

Tony shrugged, “He’s Hydra.  He also pissed off our new allies, the Hellfire Club.”

Doctor Foster frowned, “He’s what? The what?”

Darcy started reciting: “Hydra was a Nazi spin off group not limited to Germany, opposed by Captain America. Captain America”‑she glanced at Steve‑“went down on a plane taking out their ultimate weapon, after which point the organization collapsed.” She blinked, “Didn’t it?”

“And the Hellfire Club?” Jane asked

Darcy said, “A politically well-connected social club, that has tons of scandalous rumors, is intensely private, and Tony Stark is one of the public members. Their membership roster is secret and half the power players in politics want in.”

Several of the Avengers looked startled at her. 

“Indeed, Ms. Lewis,” Loki nodded. “That is a good summary of both Hydra, and the outer level of the club.”

“And the inner level? Because the way you said that there is one?”  The conversation, or breakfast, seemed to have picked her energy levels up.

Tony shrugged, “This is beyond top secret, but I had already known you could contact mercenaries and such through the club, what I didn’t know until recently was that the Inner Council is… significantly… more. Among other things a childhood friend of mine turns out to be a telepath.”

“Uh… is that good?”

“It’s complicated, but she could help identify Hydra agents.”

Darcy sat there with a piece of toast in her mouth, sort of sucking on it: it was distracting. “Emma Frost?” Darcy asked after a moment.

Tony choked, he wasn’t the only one. “HOW did you get THAT?”

“Babylon 5,” she said smirking, “Telepaths avoid skin contact.  She’s the only ex of yours who wears gloves.”

Everyone just stared at her. Fury stared at her and then said slowly, “Ms. Lewis, have you ever considered a job with S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Nope.”

“I’d like to talk to you about the Avenger’s Initiative; apparently Agent Barton is our top recruiter.” Fury looked at Natasha, who was looking fascinated at Darcy.

“Suddenly you want to hire me because…?”

Tony, who was honestly in shock, said, “Because you apparently had the political profile of the Hellfire Club in your head, and you figured out about Emma.  HOW did you do that? How do you even KNOW that?”

“Poli Sci major.” She said grinning, “And total science fiction geek.”

Loki, who was looking at her very oddly, suddenly asked, “Do you knit, Ms. Lewis?”

She blinked a bit confusedly, “Uh, yeah… knit and crochet, why?”

“That explains it.” Loki nodded.

Tony moaned, “Oh god, we are gonna have to institute the Hellfire Club’s rules on no craft talk at meetings?”

“They have rules for WHAT?” Darcy and Jane both said, in slightly different inflections.

“No craft talk at meetings; apparently several of their people are part of your cult.”

“Cult?”

Loki grinned, “Agents of K.N.I.T, or Yarnia.”

“YOU?”

“I am but a novice, Ms. Lewis, however there is‑as Anthony puts it‑a ‘praise meeting’ on Wednesday at a local  bar.”

“Awesome! “

Doctor Foster was just muttering “what?” and “I don’t understand.” Over and over.

“Who here knits?” Darcy asked thoughtfully.

Loki and Natasha raised hands, and then Tony started gasping around his inhaled coffee because STEVE raised his hand.

“You… knit?” Coulson asked in confusion.

“Sure.” Steve sounded confused, “Good socks are hard to come by, and everyone was asked to knit for the war effort.” He shrugged, “I was 4F, until I got the serum, all I could do for the war was knit. Afterwards it was good for morale… and it gave me something to talk to the USO girls about.” Steve grinned shyly. “That was why Bucky let me teach him, anyway.”

Loki nodded, “I have often wondered why ‘learn to knit’ is not the first thing on lists of how to meet women here.”

Steve shot a glance at Thor. “Lots of guys think it’s unmanly.”

Darcy just commented, “Knitting guilds in the middle ages were limited to men. There was an edict in England that all men had to wear a knit cap of English wool on Sundays, or pay a tax, as a way to keep the guilds busy and generate more income for the English wool industry.  Knitting has traditionally been a pastime of sailors, who often knit their own sweaters to protect them from the insanely harsh environments on Northern Fishing vessels.” She stretched, “It’s manly as fuck.”

No one quite knew what to say after that, although Loki was looking intrigued at Darcy.

Tony cleared his throat, “Poli Sci?  Not physics?”

“Darcy was the only internship applicant.” Jane said hesitantly. “We had to teach her a lot of the physics side of things, but she organized our notes beautifully, kept track of the budget and funding issues, and most of that doesn’t need to know the high level physics.”

“Nope, I handle the BUSINESS and POLITICAL side of Jane’s work, because she’s hopeless.  Also I get coffee, because no one functions without coffee, and Tase Asgardian gods.” She shrugged. “Someone has to.”

“You… what?” Loki asked.

“Tasered your brother.  He was acting weird.”

Loki just put his chin in his hand propped up on the table and stared in fascination at her. “My Hawk? We must sit down and have a discussion about this someday.  Your taste in companions is excellent.”

“Your Hawk?” Darcy frowned.

Clint grinned, “Basically he’s my CO right now.”

Fury sighed. “In any event, several of you need to reschedule with Ms. Taveras, because we need to be back at S.H.I.E.l.D. headquarters, dealing with the completely unexpected and we don’t know who did it, death of Alexander Pierce.  We may be able to get rid of a few other problems at the same time.

“Doctor Foster? Ms. Lewis? I want you to stay here and work with the other scientists. Coulson? Stay out of sight and I’ll send you intel as I have it.

“Rogers, Romanov, Barton? It will look very odd if you aren’t with me, and we’ll need your expertise in any event.”

Tony nodded, “I’ll get back to work hacking into the systems.  I think I’ve spotted their private communications.  That and I can brief Darcy, I get the feeling she’s going to be an asset in this.”

Fury swirled his coat and got into the elevator with his people. _Seriously, He had to practice that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All Knowledge Is Contained In fandom.  
> including the fact that telepaths wear gloves. Don't get Darcy started on TV Tropes or TV Trope trivia games, just don't.
> 
> Asset Management (chapter 1-2 and part of 3) tells the story of just what happened to Pierce, and why the explosions.  
> again my apologies for mis uploading chapters. it should be corrected now (Chapter 38 and 39)


	41. Strangers in the Knit Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where the fact that Loki is a frost giant is not known, it wouldn't be called "FrostIron", would it.

Loki ended up being horrendously busy  adding people to bindings‑and at least once having to quietly dispose of someone who died on taking oath, because knowingly taking oath falsely was messy‑ while Tony was busy doing technical work.

Tony started very quietly arranging for the discovered Hydra personnel to be transferred, or, in some cases, trying to figure out how to arrange... accidents.  _People always think I’m opposed to violence for some reason_ , Tony thought, as he looked over the best ways to arrange for certain people to die.  _Although it’s certainly not easy to do it subtly._

Darcy was a great help at figuring out priorities of removing people, but… she wasn’t a spy.  He REALLY needed the assassin twins.

He was still fretting over it when he noticed Darcy knitting, or crocheting, or doing something that involved yarn, anyway.

“Isn’t that yarn meeting tonight?”

“Yeah? Why?”

 _Fluffy said she might go. Fluffy was talking about how to get rid of people… “_ I need to go with you,” he shuddered.

“Dude, you look at my yarn like it’s going to attack you‑ why do you want to go to Knit Night?”

“Fluffy will be there. I need to talk to her.”

 “What’s going on?” Coulson said suddenly from the other corner of the room.

“GAH!” Tony clutched his chest. “I’m gonna BELL you, I swear!”

“Won’t help,” he said, sipping his coffee. “Moving silently while belled is totally a S.H.I.E.L.D. class.”

 Tony stared at him. “I believe you.”

This led to a rather peculiar problem:  ERIC was known, and, as Loki rather firmly put it, Ranting Hat Lady‑er, Sarah‑knew Loki and Tony had interest, and would probably FLIP if Tony showed up with Eric.  Meanwhile they had to explain to Coulson and Darcy about the whole cast of characters…

Eventually, Darcy made a chart: it helped.

“Ok, no problem,” Darcy said, nodding. “Eric goes as always, I show up from the Ravelry notice, and you show up with Carol.  Then we all ‘meet each other’ at Knit Night.”

“I want to go,” Coulson said quietly.

“You…” Tony stared at him. “Oh, this is because Steve knits, right?”

Coulson turned slightly pinker, but said very calmly, “I want to talk to Fluffy about the spectacular mess of Pierce’s death:  I want to know why. I had the impression it was supposed to have been quieter.”

Carol didn’t like ANY of it, and made Tony actually swear to show up for counseling if she went along with it.

 

Tony found Knit Night frustrating as hell. The bar looked like it had good booze, too‑ but here he was drinking ginger ale. He thought about ordering a real drink‑ thought about how close Loki was, and the bond‑and started swearing internally.  Eric had shown up early, ahead of them; Darcy showed up just before they did; and Coulson apparently slipped in at some point. Tony expected a lot, but not “Eric” in the middle of a gang of good-looking, intelligent women, all of whom were talking about his knitting progress and discussing mythology. Darcy was over in a corner talking roller derby with a girl named Misti.  Tony just kept his baseball cap on and tried to duck Ranting Hat Lady.

It would have worked fine except she gave a VERY familiar platter of cookies to Eric, with a, “I hope your boyfriend liked them!”

 _Cookies? Those were… she made_ …   He made a strangled noise, and one of the women looked over at him and froze.

“Uh… Why is Tony Stark in our bar?” she asked, as if she was going to start sidling away.

Everybody turned to look.

“Uh… Hi? What, I can’t sit here?”

Ranting Hat Lady turned kind of green, and Loki squeezed her hand. 

Carol spoke up, “Well, I went to work for Stark Industries, and was talking about Knit Knight, and he wanted to come.  Is it a problem?”

“You… want to learn to knit?” said a rather fierce woman with orange hair. He noticed Eric nodding firmly over her shoulder.

“Well, uh... yeah?”

“Why?” Orange Hair asked suspiciously.

“A lot of my friends knit,” he said defensively, “and I’m tired of being left out?”

They appeared to be holding a secret vote on whether to stab him to death with their knitting needles or not.  He saw Coulson sitting at the bar, apparently just reading a book. _Bastard_.

A young, vaguely punk-looking woman walked over.  Tony really had the eerie feeling that this was more Clint and Natasha’s venue, and wished they were back. “Ok,” she said‑looking at him like she was just WAITING for him to slip up and she’d impale him on her jacket like a shrike‑“here.” She handed him a pair of knitting needles, someone tossed her some yarn. Tony shot a panicked look over at Loki/Eric, but he was studiously ignoring him.

Punk sat on one side of him, Orange Hair on the other, and they proceeded to teach him to knit whether he wanted to know or not.

 

One long hour later, Tony dared to look up from his… _scarf? Yeah, we’ll go with that_ … and the various mechanical knitting machines he’d been designing in his head, because he heard Fluffy’s cheerful voice singing out, “Hey is this Knit Night? Or just a bar?  I mean, either is good.”

Fluffy was taking off her jacket.  She was wearing a My Little Pony T-shirt‑ Tony remembered that she had a nice figure‑ and a knit hat with cat ears.  She also had a rather spectacular bruise up near her hairline.

“It’s both!” one of the women sang out, closely followed by, “What happened to YOU?”

“Building fell on me,” she deadpanned. “You know how that happens.”  _Except, given the explosion,_ Tony thought _, maybe one did?_ “So do you accept crocheters? Or am I outcast, forced to wander eternally in search of a second stick of wood?”

There was a lot of laughter and Fluffy slid into the group with ease. Tony made a note to himself that she actually ate bar snacks‑ voluntarily.

“Is that an AO3 logo?” the lone knitting man‑ _I mean other than Loki, who was mine and totally didn’t count_ ‑asked her.

“YES!” she said happily. “I’m FluffyISACatGirl ; have you read any of my stuff?”

“YOU?” Ranting Hat Lady peered out from behind Eric…

“Yeah.”

“Hey! Wait!  Iron in the Fire?” Darcy suddenly sang out from the corner.

“Yeah!” Fluffy said cheerfully. “Cool, who are you guys?”

Ranting Hat Lady quietly said, “I’m not old.”

Fluffy stopped and stared at her… “YOU… YOU are ‘Im_Not_Old’?”  _Wait, that was a name?_ “You are?!  Why the HELL did you take down ‘Green and Red’? Why didn’t you finish it?!”

“Oh!  Oh, you… know that one.” She looked very unhappy.  Eric was frowning and – _he needed to stop being that protective of her; it was creepy._

“Know it?  It was the best IronHorn I’d read in AGES!”  _Wait, IronHorn? What’s that?_

Carol was looking increasingly tense‑ like she had to break this up somehow‑when Coulson looked up from his book calmly and said, “Nice to meet you both, I’m JustASuit.”

He couldn’t see Fluffy’s face, but RHL‑Sarah‑snapped her head over. “You ARE?”

Darcy looked POLEAXED.  “You…” she sounded shocked, “YOU are ‘JustASuit’? How can YOU be ‘JustASuit’?”

“Is that a problem?” Then he got the most amazingly innocent look‑ _it was art, really_. “Wait, aren’t you the one with the Instagram account full of pictures of Thor?”

The entire bar more or less went nuts. Eric looked like he’d eaten a lemon, but took advantage of the chaos to whisper in RHL’s ear and she slipped out.

Tony caught Carol’s eye, and she nodded at Eric and… stairs.  Carol went to talk to the bartender.

Tony escaped up the stairs as most of the bar was apparently asking Darcy about Thor’s ass.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving silently while belled is totally a shield class
> 
> Over in a different universe of mine, “Enter Sandman", Clint says “Wouldn’t help,“ he deadpanned. “They train us for that. ‘Walking silently while wearing bells’, totally a S.H.I.E.L.D. class.”
> 
> He probably got the dead pan from Phil. yes they are different worlds, but some things stay the same.


	42. You can have my candy

Eric‑Loki‑ made it to the upstairs room in the distraction, while Carol was talking to the bartender. Anthony was already seated when he got there.

He looked up from his pad as Loki came in, “The cameras are playing a nice loop of nothing much, and there’s no audio, so… relax.”

“I will keep my form, just in case,” Loki nodded.

“There’s… There’s a lot of, um…”

“Um?” Loki raised an eyebrow.

“They’re intimidating.”

“I believe I mentioned that, yes.”

“I thought the whole ‘Agents of K.N.I.T.’ thing was more of a joke.”

“The what?” Coulson asked coming in.

This led to a recitation of the whole story of “K.N.I.T. and F.R.O.G.” ;somewhere in there, Carol and Fluffy came in and were laughing pretty hard.

“So I guess Darcy will be stuck for a bit, huh?”

Fluffy giggled, “Yeah, nothing gets the fangirls like good pictures of a guy’s ass.”

“My ass was featured on the cover of People,” Anthony said defensively.

Fluffy nodded. “Yeah but, novelty, dude: EVERYONE saw your ass.  Besides, I liked the half-naked picture from the‑“

Coulson cleared his throat. “Yes, well.  Several of us came to make contact with you, actually, Sandra.”

Loki nodded and Anthony said, “Sandra?” in a confused voice.

Loki just looked at him, as did Coulson and Carol.  Loki finally said, “Fluffy‑ her given name is Sandra.”

Fluffy was looking at him intently, “Did you HONESTLY forget that?”

“Uh, yeah. You’re Fluffy.  If you want, I’m sure Agent here can get you ID that says that.”

Fluffy shook her head and sat back, “Ok, I’ll tell Henry you REALLY mean it when you can’t get his name straight.”

“Wait… isn’t uh... I thought Henry wasn’t…”

She grinned, “Henry, when talking to business associates, outsiders, or people who don’t know him.  Yeah, he had another name in the club.”

Loki nodded, glancing at the other two.

“Club?” Carol asked. “Afraid my briefing was rushed.”

“Hellfire Club.”

Carol stared at her. “I would stab someone to get into that club.”

Fluffy sat up cheerfully, “Always a good start!”

Loki sighed, “Coulson, as you know, is cleared. This is Carol, who is also Ms. Vivienne. She was my consultant on sharps and… human frailty.”

“YOU?  Consulted with HIM about…?”

Carol nodded and let the predator show, just a bit.

Fluffy got off the chair and walked up at her.  Carol looked puzzled.  Loki was wondering if he should interfere when Anthony whispered on the bond, “Lo, trust me: never, ever, get between two girls working out dominance. Ok?” 

Loki thought about his mother and sat back.

Fluffy poked at her, “You?”

Carol sat up and glared at Fluffy, “Do NOT poke at me.” ‑all command voice and ice.

Fluffy giggled. “You’re cute.”

The aura of menace intensified. Coulson faded further into obscurity and somehow managed to be next to Loki and Tony with a coffee cup.

“I… am… not… cute.” Ms. Vivienne smiled, threateningly polite. Loki was utterly fascinated by watching, but Anthony’s alarm was beginning to be a distraction.  He pulled Anthony into his arms.

“Yeah, yeah you are,” Fluffy said nodding. Then she dropped into a kneel  at Ms. Vivienne’s feet, slowly – _pouring_ was the only word Loki could think of‑ pouring into  a posture of absolute submission: head to the ground, white hair spilling across the floor.

Anthony was insanely alarmed; it was all Loki could do to stop him from summoning his suit. “Anthony, no. The walls? Civilians?”

Coulson was watching calmly. “So why is she cute?”

Ms. Vivienne was looking with utter confusion down at Fluffy. 

Fluffy rolled over calmly on her back and looked up. “Because she wants to knife me, but she stopped as soon as I went down.  She’s adorable.”

“Can… Can someone translate for the Tony here?” Anthony said, trying to sound flip, and failing.

“Or me, for that matter,” Ms. Vivienne said drily, looking as though she wanted to back away from Fluffy.

Fluffy was lying casually on the floor next to Carols shoes, looking up at them all. “You’re adorable, really. Sharps?  I’m not really into those‑ do you do other stuff?”

Ms. Vivienne rubbed her forehead and glared at Loki, who spread his hands as best he could to indicate innocence.

“Fluffy is not my responsibility,” Loki said finally.

“What? I have no problem playing with her, she’s cute!  I just don’t like knives that much.”

“Ropes are nice, and I don’t like knives either,” Darcy said, coming into the room. “I thought we were talking fan fiction, not BDSM.”

Fluffy bounced to her feet lightly and then grabbed the table. “Woah…”

It was a bit of a mess as Coulson, Loki, and Anthony all tried to help her at the same moment.

“That wasn’t faked,” Ms. Vivienne said after a moment. “Her eyes twitched badly.” She frowned at Fluffy, “YOU have a concussion.” She glared at the bruise at Fluffy’s hairline.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I did‑ do‑ whatever,” Fluffy said cheerfully.

Loki huffed, “You should have mentioned, I can heal that.”

“You can?”

“Yes‑with permission.”

“Dude, go for it.”

Loki brushed her head and green lights sparkled across her scalp, leg, and back.  Loki sat back, frowning, “You should not have been walking about, as injured as you were.”

“How injured?” Anthony asked.

“Badly bruised back, I believe the term is sprained? hip and knee, and I think Ms. Vivienne correctly diagnosed a concussion.”

Coulson frowned, “Wonderful, she can join the club with Barton.”

“I will happily join any club with Barton!”  she said, digging in her backpack and pulling out a bag of candy.  She held it out, almost shyly, at Loki. “You can have my candy.”

Loki considered how intent she was on food, and decided this was most likely a solemn occasion. “Thank you, I am honored. Would you accept a cookie in return?”

“Yes.”

He gave her one of Sarah’s cookies, Ms. Vivienne’s eyes intent on the exchange.

“OOOOhhh! One of the GOOD cookies!” She looked up at him happily, “I like you.”

“I like you too, Fluffy,” Loki smiled. “Were these injuries from the incident with Pierce?”

“Oh, yeah. Part of the house fell on me,” she nodded, eating her cookie.

Coulson just muttered something about agents. Darcy stared at her, “YOU were near the explosion they talked about?”

“I CAUSED it, so yeah, I was there.”

Anthony said, “Well, I wanted some help working out how to get rid of some  Hydra spies in my buildings‑ but that is another question, because I thought the whole Pierce thing was supposed to be… you know… subtle?”

Coulson nodded and shot Anthony a grateful glance.

“Well, yeah, but no one told me about the mutant cyborg bodyguard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fair warning: next chapter is harsh.


	43. Privileged View

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harsh chapter, sorry

“The… mutant cyborg bodyguard?” Tony blinked at her.

“I’ll second that one!” said Darcy.

Coulson sighed. “I thought it was supposed to be quiet.  An unexpected opponent–“

“–sucks,” Fluffy nodded. “So does finding an armed target–I hate armed targets.”

Loki smiled, “Perhaps, Lady Fluffy, you can tell us what happened?”

She shrugged, “Went down, found the house, Pierce was in there talking to mutant cyborg bodyguard, or assassin, or whatever, and he’d just shot a civilian witness.  I don’t like armed victims, so I fried both of them, intending to cover it up as usual, only mutant cyborg pretty eyes didn’t die, which was kind of aggravating, he tried to kill me, and I had to cut loose, and the house came down.” She said it all without pausing.

Darcy stared at her and finally said, “If Jane ever says a word about my caffeine intake again…”

Coulson sipped his coffee and asked, “Both of them should have been dead in the first strike?”

“Well, I pulled my punch a little–I mean they were JUST human, I thought, and it’s easier to cover up the cause of death if you  don’t, you know, cook them.” Fluffy spun her chair a bit.

Carol was looking at her drink as though it had personally betrayed her; Tony sympathized.  The waves of “Adorable!” coming off Loki were setting his teeth on edge though.

Coulson continued, “But the mutant cyborg?”

“Didn’t die. He tried to jump me so I went full power.” She shrugged. “That’s loud.”

“And?”  Coulson asked blandly.

Tony was beginning to realize that Agent Coulson was really surprisingly good at this: his voice never wavered, never sounded judgmental, was very calm, soothing– _If he’d been like this instead of threatening me, either I would have told him everything or I would have killed him_.

“So I crawled out of the rubble, and then found out the dude was STILL breathing!” she nodded at Coulson with big wide eyes, as though this was a marvel and an impossibility.

“I was kind of pissed at him, so instead of finishing him off, I was mad enough to drag him back to study or something.”

Tony snapped out of his lulled state with a crawling horror.  _Fluffy… no, she didn’t understand what that meant, right?_ He glanced at Loki, whose expression had snapped closed.

She took an apple out of her bag and bit into it with a crunch. “But then he STILL didn’t die, and he made little hurt noises, and I didn’t know whether to be mad at him or feel sorry for him, but I kind of had to respect the sheer not-dyingness of him, you know? So I fed him bits of my Big Mac, and then we ended up feeding him little bits of stuff the whole way home, and he doesn’t like hard boiled eggs any more than I do, and I gave him some of my Jelly Bellys, too, so he owed me and he was healing up, but not as fast as Wolvie does.” She took another bite of apple, chewed and swallowed. “And he had pretty eyes, so I’m keeping him.”

Tony finally managed to look around at the others.  Coulson hadn’t changed expression, not even a flicker: just mild curiosity and professionalism.  Darcy looked like it was incomprehensible but it clearly made her uneasy. Carol though… Carol had a look of veiled horror, or fear.  Tony reached along the Bond and found Loki of two minds, torn between marveling admiration and a desire to flatten the building.

Coulson, without a shake, or hesitation, or change of expression–and Tony envied him that ability right now, because he was pretty sure he would have screamed and started throwing things–said, “Isn’t it rather difficult to keep someone who doesn’t want to be kept?”

She tilted her head at him. “No. Not usually. You guys do it all the time, after all.”

“We keep people in prison,” Coulson said mildly, although Tony was beginning to hear tension in his voice, “not as property.”

She laughed. “Work for us or your sordid past goes public; do what we say or the video gets released; do what we want and it stops hurting; and besides you don’t want the rest of the gang to know you TALKED, do you?–and that’s just the easy stuff.  How much do you overlook for a research budget? How much do you ignore when your boyfriend or girlfriend was assigned by an agency to ‘manage’ you?”

She grinned at him, “Agent Coulson, you work for an agency that’s shot through with Hydra–who COULD be shot through with Hydra–because they’re dirty as fuck; don’t get all superior with me.”

Darcy, sounding scared, and small, “Do what we say, and you get a research budget–don’t do what we say and you’re entire world gets classified and you spend your whole life waiting for the assassins.”

Fluffy looked over at her. “About that,” she nodded.  She looked back at Coulson, and smiled up at him happily, with her nose crinkling up and looking utterly adorable–Tony felt like throwing up, but he couldn’t move.

“Coulson, he’s not even HUMAN in a lot of people’s eyes.  Not only CAN I keep him, and do whatever I want with him, but I’d be willing to bet that an assassin like that doesn’t even have a real identity anymore: he is literally a non-person.” She popped a handful of some small food stuffs into her mouth and started licking her fingers.

“Luckily for him? I think he’s adorable. I always was a sucker for pretty eyes.”

There was a long few moments of silence.

Loki had completely shut down.  Darcy was staring at Fluffy with terrified eyes, and looking at Coulson about the same way; Tony couldn’t blame her.  Carol looked like she was about to break and run, and the only thing stopping her was the fact that that would mean turning her back on Fluffy.

Tony, meanwhile felt blackness coiling up around him again as he tried to resolve cute, laughing Fluffy with someone who would… who could…

“How…“ He felt like he was suffocating. “How can you even think about…” He had somehow gotten the emergency gauntlet.

Fluffy looked at him, all wide eyes and little girl terror–and he didn’t buy it for one minute.

Then she grinned at him. “I knew you were smarter than most of them.  You want to know why I can do that?” Her voice was all soft, and small, and “Can you help me find my parent?”–while her eyes were dancing.

“I can do that because I’ve been there, Tony Stark, Mr. Rich Man who never had to worry about where the models, or the escorts, or the wait staff came from. Mr. ‘I can wear a collar and it’s ironic’.”

Tony felt his anger turning to lead in his stomach.  Her eyes were happy and her mouth was turned up, but all he could see was blasted landscapes, and dead civilians, and FBI raids on trafficking rings.

“I used to be a piece of property, too. I know what it looks like.  He belonged to Pierce, or to Hydra, and now he belongs to me.  You feel so bad about that?  Then you can help rebuild his cybernetics–because I fried them when I took him down.”

She smiled and took another bite of her apple. “Now you wanted to talk to me about killing some of the OTHER Hydra slaves–whether they know what they are or not, that’s what they are, most of them–or do you want to leave me to talk to  Agent Coulson, who’s trying to figure out just what kind of holding cell they need for me?”

She looked over at Coulson and Tony fell backward, shaking.

“So, JustASuit, let’s talk. While all the rest of them run away and try to forget people like me exist.”  She giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just remember that what characters say is not "word of God" or even always true.  
> however, it IS true that Tony hasn't has to worry about the same stuff that Fluffy has, and Coulson hasn't had to think much about just how dirty S.H.I.E.L.D. is


	44. I will not Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is a classic of literature.

Loki refused to call it “bolting” and tried to convince himself it was an orderly retreat from the room so Coulson could talk to her.  They made it into the next room, and Darcy curled herself into a corner and wouldn’t look up.  Anthony was falling into a depressive state worse than he’d seen in some time, and Carol was working on controlling her breathing. She was muttering something about “fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.” Anthony suddenly looked up and snorted.

“Do I take it you know the mantra?” Carol’s voice was shaking slightly.

“What mantra?” Darcy said from the corner.

Anthony grinned, “Bene Gesserit Litany.  It sounds like a good one right now.” _The what?_

Carol started over, more loudly, breathing deeply at the end of every line.  Anthony began with her.

“I must not fear.” Carol breathed in, and out.

The second line added a shaky Darcy to it.  _They apparently all knew this?  I have never encountered it._

The third line had Darcy’s voice stabilize.  Loki tapped into Anthony’s mind, and had images of sand, and blue eyes.

“I will face my fear.”  Breathe in, breathe out. 

Loki could hear the next line in Anthony’s mind and mouthed it along with them.  _Generations of breeding? Battles, and plans, and trained, disciplined minds?_

“Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.” Breathe in, Breathe out.

“Only I will remain.”

Loki and Anthony were in perfect sync.  He could feel the other two, as group chanting tended to bring the talented into alignment.

Darcy was staring at Loki and Tony with amazed eyes. “I could hear you… in my head.”

Loki nodded-Anthony nodded with him. “Synchronized breathing and chanting tends to do that,” he said, “especially since we are all under the same oaths and binding.”

“I didn’t know. I use it to calm down,” Carol said, opening her eyes. Loki realized he was a bit shocked they weren’t blue. “Will it stop?”

“Yes.  Just… don’t chant and breathe together for a few.”

Anthony said something about coffee and Darcy went downstairs for some. He could feel her position in his mind, although it was fading slowly.

Carol sat down. “Well, that was unexpected.”

They all tried to re-order their thoughts.  Separating Anthony and himself was, of course, very difficult, but eventually‑and the coffee helped‑ they were back to usual.

“I… don’t know this religion, or this group,” Loki finally admitted. “Nor am I familiar with the history you reference.”

“What?”

“The chant, and the women with blue eyes, and the generations of breeding?  Is this where the Stark line comes from?”

All three of them stared at him and then Darcy started giggling.  Anthony put his hand over his face. “Lo… it’s a book. A series of books, and a movie, and a few TV shows…”

Carol blinked at him, “If you don’t know that where did you get all that detail?”

“From me,” Anthony smiled, “in our link… Lo, let’s give you a crash course in Dune…”

Darcy pulled up Wikipedia on her pad, Anthony started talking, and Carol detailed the various types of orders, mental disciplines, and so on depicted in the saga. They were still in the middle of it when Coulson walked in.

“So the Bene Gesserit seeded mythology on all these worlds?”  Loki asked in some confusion

“Yeah, basically,” Darcy nodded. “So that if one of theirs ended up there, they could take advantage of it.”

“Sensible. So is this fable, then, one of the seeded myths?”

“Lo! It’s FICTION!”

Coulson cleared his throat, “May I ask how we ended up in a discussion of the mythology of Frank Herbert?”

Carol looked a bit embarrassed, “I use the litany against fear as a centering exercise.  It turns out it works extraordinarily well when dealing with people under magical bindings who all know the litany.”

“It was AWESOME!” Darcy said cheerfully. “But I don’t want to do it again, because it’s also creepy.”

“Welcome to my world,” smirked Anthony.

“Explain?” Coulson asked.

Loki sighed, “Anthony and I went into a complete synchronization.  Carol and Darcy were both linked as well, although less so.  Put simply, I could feel them on a link.”

Coulson blinked a lot. “Can you do that deliberately?”

“Assuming we knew a chant and worked together on it, probably.  It helps that Carol has been in my sanctum before, and has a very disciplined mind, but generally yes.”

“Because that would be pretty useful for the Avengers.”

Loki stopped and thought. “Either a very good idea, or a very bad one. I am not sure which.”

Anthony looked pointedly at Coulson, “VERY bad idea.”

Carol added firmly, “Insanely bad, at least until you resolve some of the major secrets.  I was picking up bits and pieces from all three of them‑ and they scarcely made sense‑ but a DELIBERATE link would likely end up with actual information.” She raised an eyebrow at Coulson. “How well would Steve deal with suddenly ‘hearing’ your fantasies?”

Coulson tensed. “Fantasies… are not usually for public consumption, in any event.”

Carol smiled at him tightly. “Precisely. And any issues between people need to be resolved before you throw them into a telepathic bond of any level, I would think.”

Anthony shrugged, “Yeah, Loki and I had major issues, and that’s just TWO of us, and we are so much alike it’s scary anyway. “

Coulson took a deep breath, “Right. Next topic.”

Loki nodded, “Fluffy was a bit upset. Is she still here?”

Anthony howled, “FLUFFY was upset?”

Loki pulled Anthony into his lap. “Yes, she was; otherwise, she wouldn’t have let herself frighten people.”

Darcy stared at him. Carol blinked. Coulson nodded slowly.

Anthony mostly twisted around to look up at him and went, “Da fuq?”

“Anthony, kindly ask a QUESTION, don’t just make rude noises.”

“I can see it,” Carol nodded. “She was stressed, or upset, and basically pushed us away.”

Coulson sipped his coffee. “She went back to the club. Apparently the ‘mutant cyborg’ is still basically in intensive care.  However, they have doctors who are actually used to super solider, or mutant, healing speeds.  It… it may be the best place for him to have ended up: a normal hospital wouldn’t know how to handle it.”

Darcy looked thoughtful, “Yeah, ok, I can see that.”

“However, she did give me some suggestions for getting rid of a few people in the tower, and temporarily getting rid of a few by closing out a department,” Coulson said, wincing faintly.

Loki looked up, “Ah?”

“Apparently we just fake a chemical leak on the floors with the majority of the Hydra personnel, and send everyone home on a three day paid vacation.” Coulson winced again. “You know, while we clean up.  It’s…”

Anthony finished, “Simple, elegant, and we should have thought of it.”

“Right.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original Litany:   
>  "I must not fear.   
>  Fear is the mind-killer.   
>  Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.   
>  I will face my fear.   
>  I will permit it to pass over me and through me.   
>  And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.   
>  Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.   
>  Only I will remain." 
> 
> Variations and shorter forms were used in different media.


	45. Cleaning House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am dealing with both computer issues, and a USPS employee who decided taking photos into my home (PTSD veteran and rape survivor) was a good idea. I may be late with updates, my apologies.  
> thankfully i have a very good large dog.

They faked the chemical leak. A large number of people, Hydra and otherwise, were sent home on paid leave while they cleaned up. Some of them were transferred “temporarily” while their divisions were cleaned up. Tony added the final touch of having Thor “accidentally” overload a few electrical lines while helping.

Tony and Jarvis proceeded to rip through the computers, bugs, and other issues in the building. They “discovered” damage from the invasion that needed correcting.  The Hydra spies‑the known ones‑ were permanently transferred, except for the few that could be isolated in the tower, and kept away from critical issues.

Coulson mostly stayed out of the way, and was on line with Natasha, Clint, Steve‑ and probably Fury‑ coordinating.  He pretty much dragged Darcy in as his assistant.

Loki would vanish for hours at a time, once for a entire day, and Hydra personnel‑some associated with Stark Industries, some not‑ would die in completely natural and untraceable ways‑ and not on Tony’s property.

The strain was telling on everyone. Fury sounded flat when Tony spoke to him the one time. Loki missed the next Knit Night; he wasn’t in the mood to be sociable.

Tony called a meeting for Monday.

 _Darcy made coffee, bless her.  The woman was a Goddess_.  Then Tony began to believe she WAS a Goddess, because she managed to get Loki to drink some.

“Lo? Are you drinking… coffee?”  Tony had to check.  _Maybe it was one of his clone doubles._

“Apparently this is an iced coffee chocolate drink.  It is… acceptable.” He looked dubiously at it. “It is not tea, but it will do.”

Tony looked over at Darcy. “Woman, name your price; I need to hire you as my personal barista…”

As tired looking as she looked, and was, she snickered.  Jane looked up from the papers and computers she was dragging around and said, “Oh no you don’t. That’s my Caffeine Goddess there; I found her first!”

Coulson, sipping his coffee with an air of concentration, simply muttered something about, “National Security preempting civilian needs.”

Thor sat down near Jane, with what appeared to be a cup of whipped cream with coffee flavoring‑ and pop tarts.

Bruce came in with Carol, and Tony nodded, “Looks like everyone who is here, is here… so let’s get going.”

They got Clint on video conference.

After going over far too much, Tony again brought up the fact that Project Insight should never have even gotten this far.  Everyone generally agreed, of course, having seen the computer simulations they were using, and finding out that S.H.I.E.L.D. had tacitly backed what would have been the murder of potentially millions of innocent people was a contributor to the general depression.

Fury had refused to believe it until Tony and Jarvis had hacked the systems and a loyal cadre of agents had taken one of the bases.  Thankfully, the Insight helicarriers were nowhere near completion, but that the WSC had approved even the softened version of their use had shown everyone just how corrupted S.H.I.E.L.D. had become.

Clint nodded, “Now that the general business is over, some business that touched on the personal.”

“You gonna come home and tie me up?” Darcy tried to sound saucy‑ it didn’t work; they were all numb and tired.

“Most of the psych department handling… handling the recovered scepter victims turned out to be Hydra,” Clint said dully.

“So do you want me to kill them quickly or slowly, My Hawk?” Loki asked‑ Tony knew he was sincere, too.

Clint’s eyes hardened. “Nat already got one who was… difficult. I want them dead, honestly, but… I want to know if any of them can be saved, or if any of them deserve to go quickly, at least.” Some of the strain seemed to have caught up to him. “Phil…”

“Yes?”

“I waited… I waited until we had proof, and then Nat and I dug until we had more proof… I’m sorry, Sitwell is one of them.”

Coulson’s eyes widened. “Is there any chance…?”

“No.  It appears he was directly consulting with Pierce.  He may be the only one able to tell us what some of the more cryptic notes mean.  He doesn’t know we know; I want to question him, but he was a friend…”

“Can you bring him here? I’d like to talk to him.”

“Yes, Sir. We’ll be arriving this afternoon.”

After Clint hung up, Phil put his Agent face on‑ hard.

They started to wrap things up, so when Tony’s phone rang it startled them all.  He looked down at the number and held up a hand.

“Hi, Fluffy,” Tony said cautiously. “What’s up?”

Jane, Thor,and Bruce merely looked curious.  The people who had been at the last Knit Night suddenly got attentive.

“Remember the mutant cyborg I picked up?” she said cheerfully. _As if I could forget that conversation_.

 “Yeah?”

“He’s up and around, so I need you to fix his cyber arm.” _She has GOT to be kidding._

“WHY do you want to fix the arm on a Hydra‑“

“He wasn’t voluntary; we found that out.  Emma says he had his brain worked over‑ like with a sledgehammer. Anyway, he’s not Hydra anymore, he’s mine.”

“You can’t OWN people, Fluffy.” _And here came the headache again._

“Sure you can. We gonna have this conversation again?” A sudden crunching noise interrupted; Tony thought it was static until he realized it was her eating something.

 _Fine, I’ll spell it out._ “If he walks in here, and he doesn’t want to walk out with you, he doesn’t.” _My tower, my rules._

 “Sure thing,” she said smugly.

 _What?_ “I’m serious.”

“So am I.” _She was laughing at me… Ok, this WHOLE thing had to be a joke, right?_

“Fine.  Better sooner than later. I don’t want to have him run into Steve; Captain America might not be able to stay calm around some kind of Hydra super soldier.”

“Awww… Pretty eyes?  He’s a love.”  _He’s a what? What’s happened in the last two weeks?_ “How do I come into the building with him?”

“Garage entrance.” He gave her Jarvis’ number. “Dial that when you get close, Jarvis will bring you in.”

“See ya!” she hung up.

Tony sagged over the table. “Science save us all,” he muttered

“What did I miss, Tony?” Bruce asked, looking a bit odd. “Fluffy needs what? and who gets to leave?”

“Oh… right. Uh…”

Loki smoothly picked it up, “Fluffy apparently captured a Hydra agent when she went to kill Director Pierce. According to her, he is a ‘mutant cyborg bodyguard’,” Loki‘s lip twitched faintly, “with pretty eyes.”

That got a lot of eyebrows going up, especially when the rest of the Knit Night crew just nodded.

“She rather firmly declared that she was keeping him as her property.” Loki glanced at Thor. “She said she admired his strength in surviving, among other things.”

Thor looked around at everyone else, finally focusing on Tony. “Why couldn’t she keep him, then?”

“What?!” Some variation on that came from just about everyone.

“Is he not an enemy captive?”

Coulson cleared his throat. “It’s not legal to keep slaves, Thor.”

Thor frowned in confusion and his forehead wrinkled up, Tony was reminded eerily of a confused Golden Retriever.  He looked at Darcy. “She can kill him, but not keep him?”

Darcy sighed, “Technically she can’t kill him except in self-defense type stuff, but most of what we are doing is technically illegal.  Officially, she can’t kill him OR keep him. As she made clear at Knit Night, though… Practically? She can do whatever she can get away with.”

Jane was staring around in shock.  Bruce was looking at Tony.

“Which is why I said if she brings him here, and he doesn’t want to leave with her, he doesn’t have to‑“

Loki smoothly added, “Anthony would grant him Sanctuary‑ asylum. It IS his holdings, and he told her in advance.”

Thor nodded slowly. “As long as she knew that.  Why does she wish to bring him here?”

“She damaged his cybernetics. She wants me to repair them.”

Coulson nodded, “He was still very badly wounded and not out of danger at that point.  So he’s able to be moved now?”

“Apparently.” Tony looked at Coulson. “Did you‑ did ANY of you‑ get the slightest idea she was joking? About him? Because she was laughing at me and blowing off any chance that he’d take me up on running away.”

Thor looked at him and shrugged, “If she intends to treat him with honor, perhaps to take him as a warrior in her house, why would he run?”

Loki smirked‑ _the bastard_ ‑“Perhaps she has… other… methods of persuasion?” And he ran a hand down Tony’s back. I _will not PURR at him, dammit._

Coulson sighed, “Or perhaps your friend Ms. Frost made sure he CAN’T.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> overlaps with Asset Management, Chapter 6, if you are interested.


	46. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elevators and assets

Tony wished he could believe Emma wouldn’t do that– or couldn’t do that– but all he was really certain of was that she wouldn’t do that TO HIM.

“Point,” Tony said tiredly. “I trust her with me, not with random Hydra goons… wait… “ he blinked. “Agent? How likely do you think it is for Fluffy to be truthful?”

“It depends,” Phil answered. “Why?”

“She said Emma found out that the Hydra dude wasn’t voluntary, that he ‘had his brain worked over with a sledgehammer’.”

Several people were looking worried at that.  Carol raised an eyebrow. “Emma Frost the telepath?”

“Yes.”

“Almost any type of ordinary mental manipulation would look crude to a telepath, wouldn’t it?”

Tony stared at her. “I have no idea.”

Loki nodded, “Yes.  Anything that didn’t involve the utmost skill and power would likely look crude:  common drugs, torture, things like that.”

Tony shuddered and Loki pulled him up against his side.

Loki continued, “It would lack subtlety.”

Carol nodded, “So he wasn’t VOLUNTARILY working for Hydra, but they thought they had him controlled enough to use him to bodyguard Pierce, which means we may be able to get a lot of inside information from him.”

Coulson was looking impressed at her. “Possibly.”

“And later a friend of yours is arriving, who also works for Hydra?”

He winced, “Quite likely.”

Carol looked at him coolly. “How well will you be able to deal with him?  If you can’t you need to designate someone.”

“I’m probably the only one that will be able to see past his tells,” Phil sighed, “now that I know what to look for.”

Tony asked, “Could he have been coerced?”

“I hope so.”

Carol looked around at everyone. “If they can coerce someone well enough to trust him with weapons guarding their director?  Then we have to understand the details, because THAT is a level of brainwashing that is beyond anything I know how to deal with.”

“It’s not like the scepter,” Loki said quietly. “She wouldn’t describe it that way.  I’m not sure she would have been able to even look into a mind under the scepter’s influence.”

“So we wait, and we see.” Coulson nodded.

They didn’t have to wait long.  After an hour, Jarvis put a call through on the speakers.

“Hiiiii!” Fluffy’s voice sang out cheerfully. “We’re here, do you guys have food? Should I order some?”

Most people were stunned into blinking, but Loki answered, “There is fruit and things for the blender, and we can order in.”

“He has a metabolism like a blast furnace!” she said cheerfully. “Lots of protein. Anyway, like… Could you guys stay a bit clear of the elevators and not make any sudden moves near him? He’s still a bit twitchy.”

There was a slight pause. “It’s an elevator, Jamie; it doesn’t bite.”

_Oh, she must be talking to him._

A man’s voice, Russian by accent, or Romanian? “It’s a trap; you shouldn’t get in it.”

Fluffy’s voice, “They won’t trap me, Jamie.”

His voice was firm and certain, “Stairs.”

Tony stared at the speakers, “That’s like seventy-eight floors, and it’s my elevator.”

Fluffy whined‑ that was the only word for it‑“Jamie, honey… There’s food up there.”

“Nyet… No, they have to order it. There is not. There will be by the time we go up the stairs.” A pause. “By the time you do, I would be faster.”

Tony was dragging his hand through his hair. “It’s an ELEVATOR. It goes up to MY FLOOR.”

“Which is why it is trapped, Tony Stark. You were my third target.”

Coulson shoved Tony back. “What’s that?”

“Nicholas Fury, Primary Target; Steve Rogers, second; Tony Stark, third.” The man’s voice was calm, level, and deadly. “The simplest way to take him out would be the dedicated elevator.  My charge does not get in.”

Fluffy  sighed, “Can… Can we take a DIFFERENT elevator to a floor just a few floors down? And then walk up?”

There was a pause. “Yes.”

Fluffy sighed again, “Sorry! No point getting a bodyguard and not letting him work. See you in a few.”

Tony looked at Coulson and then Loki. “Jarvis! Start scanning that elevator, all the elevators!”

Loki waved his hands and a green ball flitted over and into the crack between the elevator doors, turning the doors green-gold for a moment as they passed.

Coulson looked grim. “First of all, he’s right, that’s a choke point.  Secondly, if that was his target list…”

Thor was trying to reassure Jane.

Darcy glanced at the speakers. “Well, he didn’t SOUND coerced; he sounded like he was working for her.  If a bit flat maybe?”

Bruce looked warily at the elevator doors. “I can go get shawarma.  I doubt the elevator can hurt me.”

“We can use the equipment elevator until we’re sure. That one is secure enough to transport suit parts, it’s just pretty industrial.” Tony nodded, “Jarvis? Direct them to the equipment elevator.”

“Already in process, Sir.  They are on their way up.”

Loki frowned, “Elskan mín hækkaði  I do not like the idea that this man had you on a target list.”

“Maleficent, I don’t like it either.”

Thor looked up, “She has taken him as her own guard? That is a great deal of trust, and a high station.”

“Yes, yes it is.” Loki nodded, then he grinned, “Oh, you haven’t MET Fluffy.” He sat back suddenly. “I’m looking forward to this.”

Jarvis sounded a faint chime to let them know the new guests were arriving.  A man walked in.  He was dressed like half the young men in New York at any given time– black on black on black– except one arm was in a heavy duty sling, and wrapped in black cling tape, and he had a Daft Punk logo on his t-shirt. Tony tracked up to his face and stopped– those flat eyes said killer in a language he’d learned the hard way in a cave. This was a man who would hold you head down in the water until you drowned, just because someone said to.

Tony backed up into Loki.

The more alert and observant– or experienced– people were watching him in the wary manner you watched any dangerous creature who was much too close; the rest were trying to figure out what was wrong.

“Hi! So this is Jamie, and he’s my new bodyguard,” Fluffy said cheerfully. “Don’t make any threatening moves; the trip across town and the elevator have him a bit twitchy.”  She came around to his side and leaned on the arm in a sling. “So, I finally get to meet Thor, huh?”

“Lady Fluffy?” Thor questioned as he stood up, “An unusual name. Indeed I am–“ he started forward.

Jamie pushed her behind him and GROWLED at Thor.

“Jamie, people can shake hands…” Fluffy said from behind him.

Jamie just glared at Thor.  Thor looked thoughtful, “He is attempting to fulfill his duties, Lady Fluffy, even if he is… confused.” Thor nodded. “An admirable attempt.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Fluffy said from behind him. “Some jackass tried to shove me around at breakfast, so he’s kind of defensive.”

Coulson cleared his throat, “What happened to him?”

“He lived,” Fluffy said pleasantly, coming back to Jamie’s side.

“Unfortunately,” Jamie said grimly. “I am used to my Arm.”

Darcy was looking over at Fluffy. “You mentioned he had pretty eyes.”

“Doesn’t he though?”

“Nice ass, too.”

“Yeah.”

The deadly flatness of his expression flickered with something like confusion, then he looked at Darcy; Tony could see the exact moment when he went from threat assessment to “Whoa, babe!”

One of his eyebrows went up, and an easy crooked smile flashed across his face.  He looked Darcy over in an appreciative fashion, and the apparent threat level in the room went way down.

Fluffy looked up at him and laughed, then looked back at Darcy. “He’s a good kisser, too, but Hydra has him too messed up to do much more than that.”

She looked over at Tony. “So? Food? And his Arm got fried.”

“Right, uh, he does know I’ll have to touch him, right?”

“Given up on trying to convince him to run off and join your boy band?” she smirked.

Tony sighed, “Send food to the lab?”

“Of course,” Loki nodded.  He then looked at Fluffy. “YOU are responsible for him, and that includes the bindings.”

“Yeah, I know.  He’s too messed up to consent to them, though.  He doesn’t even know his own name.”

Jane looked up, “I thought his name was Jamie?”

“That’s just because he didn’t like Jamil,” Fluffy grinned. “You’re Doctor Foster, cool!  No, I suggested Jamil and he preferred Jamie. It’s like naming a cat.”

She waved at them all and Tony walked them out. Out of the corner of his eye as he turned he saw Jamie pulling her in with his good arm, and keeping his bulk between her and the rest of the Avengers team, while watching Tony ahead of him.

He could feel those deadly eyes on the back of his neck as they walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jamie's T shirt is this logo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_(Daft_Punk_album)  
> because Fluffy has a TWISTED sense of humor.
> 
> Mirrors Chapter 7 of Asset Management


	47. We’re All Monsters Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> if you've read some of the side stories, and someone had to say it, this shouldn't shock you

Loki frowned after them as they left, but somehow no one said anything until they were gone for some time.

“Jarvis? Please keep a very careful eye on that situation?”

“Of course, Mr. Laufeyson.”

Carol came out from behind the bar. “That was, to quote a television show, ‘a bit not good’.”

Darcy nodded firmly. “Double plus ungood.”

Coulson sat down and said, “If the two of you are going to steal all the good quotes…”

Thor shrugged, “He carried himself well, but he did not seem very dangerous.”

Loki snorted. “He was extremely dangerous, the more so because he is wounded.  Since he is unable to use what I presume was his cybernetic arm, he is going to be even more aggressive.”

Coulson nodded, “Insecure or frightened combatants are very much more likely to strike first, or with very little provocation.”

Carol looked thoughtful. “His body language and expression changed when Darcy and Fluffy were talking about him.”

Darcy nodded, “He looked at me with that creepy serial killer look and then, um, suddenly he was hot.”

Carol nodded, “A different personality, or maybe a flash of whoever he had been?  It could just as easily be an act, but…” She looked thoughtful. “Fluffy said Hydra had him too damaged for more than kissing… the implication being he’s too traumatized.  Dissociative Identity Disorder might be an issue.”

“Disa- what?” Doctor Foster asked.

“People used to call it a split personality.” Carol shrugged, “That’s the wrong way to look at it, but extreme trauma can cause fractured personalities, and adopted personalities as a coping mechanism.” She looked thoughtfully at Coulson. “There are rumors that various intelligence agencies do it deliberately– cause dissociative identities.”

Coulson looked unhappy. “Some do, or at least, I am aware that some agencies have tried it. It usually leads to a damaged individual who can be scapegoated‑ set up to take the blame‑ but isn’t actually effective.”

Loki went for a walk rather abruptly as they tried to explain the concepts to Thor and Doctor Foster.

He idly felt along the bond, worrying at feeling a sharp stab of panic, but it soon faded down to anxiety- to be expected, he supposed. He kept it muted, while keeping an eye on it. Anthony was puzzled, anxious, and curious… which was better than the depression they had all felt the last while.

Darcy ended up on the balcony with him some time later.

“Hey.”

“Miss Lewis.”

“I’m, like, your sub-in-law or something; I think you can call me Darcy.”

Loki couldn’t help but snicker at that.

“So, like, the shawarma just got here, and yes we sent some down to the labs, so you might want to come back in.”

“I will be in presently.”

“Clint is an awesome guy, even if he really isn’t so much into girls, you know.”

“Yes, I am aware of that. Why?”

“Apparently he was in charge of making you eat and stuff, sort of like what I have to do with Jane.  So move.”

Loki couldn’t help but be amused, “Or what?”

“Or I will go INTERRUPT Tony in the middle of what he’s doing, to make him come up here and make you eat.  Then he’ll be cranky and annoyed, and he’ll have to spend twice as long in the lab to fix the problem, and –“

Loki held up a hand, “I accede to your demands.”

She nodded, “Don’t make me escalate threats; that was just level one.”

“Do I dare ask what level two is?”

Darcy led them back inside, “Nope, but one time I switched all of Jane’s coffee to decaf and she didn’t wake up for twelve hours, and she had a migraine.”

Doctor Foster heard the tail end of that and winced, “Why are you telling him that?”

Loki snickered, and then glanced at Doctor Banner, “Apparently the Lady Darcy is quite fearsome, even without a Taser.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed at Carol: she was eating quietly and had a very closed expression.

“What happened?”

She looked up, her face in a smooth, unreadable expression–to most people. _She was concerned, and unwell, and… ah… interest?_ “Our particular weaknesses?” he asked.

Carol kept her eyes hooded, “The usual dichotomy.”

They had everyone else’s attention, unfortunately.

 Coulson cleared his throat. “You looked a bit green when you came back from the lab– is there a problem?”

Carol kept her eyes down on her food, although it wasn’t a submissive posture. “Mr. Stark had Jamie’s robotic arm opened up on the table.  While it isn’t flesh and blood, and Jamie was unconscious as far as I could tell, it was… distressing.”

Loki gave her a sympathetic look, certain no one else would understand. Most of the other people were making unhappy or sympathetic noises as well, but…

“Perhaps a bit of fresh air?” Loki suggested.

She got up smoothly. “Yes, I think so.”  Several people offered to escort her; she waved them off.  Loki took her to the roof.

“Would your mantra help?” he asked curiously.

“No, that helps fear, not…” She looked up and the predator was clear in her eyes.

Loki just laughed. “It must have been fascinating.”

“It was horrifying,” she said as one hand closed on her other wrist. “And I wanted to get a lot closer.” She shrugged, “You understand.”

“How long have you gone without your outlets?”

Her voice was sharpening, now that she didn’t have to hide it. “Since a few days before I moved in.”

“Is that a record for you?” their lives were shorter; he didn’t know.

“No. Not nearly, but I’m under more stress.”

Doctor Banner’s voice came from the roof access. “Sadist?”

She spun away from his voice. “Hey, Kent.  Might not be a good time,” she said lightly.

He glanced at Loki, who was looking back at him curiously.  _The doctor had indicated some familiarity with a darker nature…_

“We’re all monsters here, I suspect,” Bruce said calmly.

She cocked her head and turned slowly. “Your anger issues?”

“There’s a reason I DIDN’T go into regular medicine. I would have hurt someone.” Bruce nodded.

She nodded back, “My sadism is usually quite well handled by my client list.  I don’t even normally mind going without an outlet for a while, but…”

Bruce nodded, “No outlet, combined with high stress.”

Loki nodded, “At least I have some time with Anthony, and the bond itself has been amazingly grounding.”  He looked curiously at the Doctor. “I admire your ability to maintain yourself.”

“Carol’s other meditations have been helpful.” He nodded at her. “I wondered how much personal experience you had.”

“As I said, normally I would be fine, but…”

Bruce nodded slowly, “Seeing what amounts to surgery, suddenly…”

“It didn’t help that, being the metal arm, it was remarkably clean– like an anatomy display.”  Her body language was relaxing. “Thank you both, by the way.  As I keep trying to explain to people, having an outlet is helpful.” She smiled tightly, “Someone to talk to.”

Loki nodded, “And having to deal with Ms. Potts must be taxing.”

Bruce blinked a great deal, “Oh, I hadn’t… Yes, it would be.”

“Her attitudes toward sadomasochism are understandable and not unexpected, but I normally have an outlet.” She sighed. “One of the professors spent the entire semester of ‘alternative sexuality’ going on about his hatred of BDSM in general, and S and M in specific, doing his best to turn out another generation of  problem therapists.” She smiled sharply, “I managed to get at a few of them and explain things.”

Loki snickered.  Bruce looked wistful.

Carol took several deep breaths. “We talk to Coulson.”

“Pardon?” Loki blinked.

“We have at least one– possibly several– Hydra spies coming in.” She gave both of them a pleasant look. “If we’re lucky, they need to be interrogated.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow and glanced at Loki. “I don’t think they’ll let you… hurt them too badly.”

Carol dropped all pretenses and smiled like a shark. “I only have to hurt them a little– I’m a psychology major, remember? There’s more to enjoying a bit of fear and pain than just a knife.”

Loki smiled back, just a bit too wide. “I think we could scare them very badly.”

Bruce ducked his head faintly and smiled just a little, “You have no idea.”

They went to talk to Coulson.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://archiveofourown.org/works/4813913/chapters/12604646
> 
> chapter 101 “Not the shovel talk” of Someone had to say it.
> 
> Bruce is NOT kidding.


	48. Rapid Response

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> well, that was quick.   
> People recognize The Winter Soldier.

By the time Tony dragged himself back in to the group, it was obvious he’d missed a lot.

“Ok, what did I miss?”

Coulson looked… _he looked odd_. “Ms. Taveras and Loki have offered to assist in interrogation.”

Tony glanced over and shrugged, looking back at Coulson. “Ms. Taveras thinks Natasha is warm and cuddly, I say go for it.”

 Coulson snorted into his coffee; several people looked stuffed.

Loki smiled pleasantly, “All of which, of course, requires someone to interrogate.”

“Yeah, about that,” Tony said.  “The arriving Quinjet has a LOT  of people in it.  I have tracking on Natasha and Clint, but there are at least 5 other people in there; I thought we were expecting one.”

“That could be an issue,” Coulson agreed.

“I don’t think it’s THAT big a deal, but we need to be prepared.  I say we just meet them on the roof. Non-combatants stay here, this room is highly defended these days, or move into my lab if you prefer.” Tony nodded. “Combat folks go up to the roof and we intercept them.”

Carol smiled, “I’m not ‘combat people’ compared to this group. I’ll wait until we have someone to interrogate.”

Bruce looked thoughtfully around. “I would prefer not to be ‘combat people’ unless needed. I’ll be on standby.”

Tony nodded. “Bruce and Agent on standby, since we don’t want to tip our hands too much; Thor, me, Loki, Fluffy, and Jamie on combat detail; everyone else is a civilian until later.”

Thor frowned, “The Lady Fluffy didn’t appear very fearsome, and her guard was only…”

Tony held up a hand, “Point Break?  Fluffy could probably kill everyone in this room– with the POSSIBLE exception of Loki, owing to magical shields.”

That got a lot of people trying to ask questions at once. 

Finally Coulson managed to get a question out over everyone. “Fluffy is dangerous, certainly, but you are implying a level of concern I wasn’t aware of.”

“Fluffy generates energy blasts.  Her energy output fried EMP-shielded Hydra technology that could probably stand up to a repulsor blast.” Tony nodded. “I just finished doing repairs on his arm.  It’s the super level Hydra tech from the war, and she took it out.”

Coulson was staring at him.

Thor looked around and said, “So despite her appearance, she is able to hold her own amongst our number?”

“I suspect she could take me out in my usual suit,” Tony admitted reluctantly.  Loki looked–and felt– startled: he knew Tony didn’t like to admit that.

Bruce was looking rather green–albeit in the usual human sense, not the Hulk sense. “Fluffy? Really?”

“Fluffy. Really.” Tony nodded. “I would like to have a testing opportunity on what her energy output is, but we don’t have one.  As to Jamie?  I don’t know his capabilities, but… he heals very fast, is very strong, and has a super strength arm. Plus he was being sent to kill Director Fury, and they KNEW what kind of work that would be, so I assume he’s pretty badass even though his mind is a bit scrambled.”

They started preparing. 

Fifteen minutes before the arrival of the Quinjet, Fluffy came in with Jamie. Jamie was moving his metal arm–now unwrapped– happily.  A lot of people understandably found it fascinating.

“HI!” Fluffy was bouncing on her toes. “So Jamie gets to show off?”

Loki looked curious. “Do you want him to?”

“Oh hell yeah!  The closest I’ve seen to watching him work was an idiot at the breakfast buffet.”

“We could certainly hang back to allow him to test himself against the foe.” Loki looked at Thor.

Thor brightened up significantly. “Indeed! Against such ordinary opponents it would be more sporting.”

“Great!” Fluffy leaned back into Jamie and looked up at him. “Jamie? You get to take out some Hydra goons!”

His mouth curled up in a smile that did not look at all sexy.

“Just remember we need to ask them a few questions, so we would like them alive if possible.” Coulson sighed.

“Yeah, that’s why you only want me on backup,” Fluffy nodded. “I basically go right from flyswatter to tac-nuke.”

Bruce looked over, “Uh, Fluffy?”

“BRUCIE!!!!!!” She ran over and hugged him. Jamie looked disconcerted. Still hugging Bruce, she looked over at Jamie. “THIS is Bruce! I like him.”

Jamie looked dubious.

“Yes?” she said, arms still wrapped around Bruce. Tony was having a hard time not laughing.

“I was wondering if you know what the energy output you generate is?”

“Nope. Never had any way to measure it.”

“We do have testing ability in my labs,” Tony nodded, “but not right now. Right now we have to get to the roof.”

“You coming Bruce?” Fluffy asked happily.

“I’m stand-by only.  Um… Big and green tends to cause a lot of property damage, and Quinjets are expensive.”

“Right,” Tony nodded. “Hey Jarvis? Give the audience a good view.”

“Of course, Sir.”  flat screens un-folded and holographic displays instantiated around the room, showing views of the roof.

“Standby folks will get their view screens just off the roof access.” Tony grinned. “Showtime!”

They headed up.

Tony suited up. Fluffy looked impressed; Jamie just… looked at him– it was unnerving. He set off to fly some laps around and called the QuinJet when it came into view.

“Hey, Hawkeye!” Tony said, pretending he didn’t KNOW there were way more people than expected. “You’re late. Shawarma would have gotten cold, but I put it in the warmer.”

Clint’s voice was normal on the comms, “Hey Tony.  Brought some extra company.  The Director has been concerned about security.”

“What? My security is awesome. It’s me after all, and I’m awesome.”

“Whatever.” Tony could almost hear Clint rolling his eyes. “I’m guessing all the hot babes went home already?”

“Yup, ‘fraid so,” Tony lied happily. “Speaking of which, how’s Natasha?”

“About to murder you, Stark.” Natasha’s voice was  amused on the line.

“Natasha?  Oh, boy. I know some folks are gonna be mad they missed you.”  Tony thought. “Oh, hey… not all the hot babes are gone, even if she isn’t my type. Fluffy is visiting.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, she has a friend with her, though.  A male friend.”

“Is that an invitation to double date?” Clint asked.

“Might be.” Tony thought carefully. “They were on the roof making out just like you two do, so I think you’ll get to meet them.”

“Looking forward to it,” Natasha said, sounding obviously amused.

Well, Tony had done all he could on an open line to let them know.

The Quinjet landed and so did Iron Man– he put up his visor and waved.

 Jamie was leaning up against a wall in one of the darker corners of the roof, Fluffy leaning back into his chest in front of him.  Since he was all in black except for his face and arm –and Arm– he was only just visible against the wall.  Fluffy– with her pale pink T-shirt covered in My Little Pony designs, and stark white hair– was extremely visible.

Natasha came out first, followed by Jasper Sitwell.  She glanced at Tony and over at Fluffy.  She moved off to the right side. Four large combat-ready men followed her; everything about them said trouble.  They were followed by Clint who closed up the Quinjet.

“Hey Clint, you remember Fluffy, right?”

Fluffy stretched up against Jamie.  Arms over her head, conveniently blocking a view of him. “CLINT!!!! How’s my favorite pair of shoulders?”

Clint wasn’t grinning as he looked at the shadow behind her, but he quickly put on a grin for the audience. “Fluffy! How’s my kinky fangirl?” The reaction to that line  distracted at least a couple of the men. Sitwell looked uneasy.

Tony smiled at the newcomers. “Fluffy is an old friend of mine.”

“Oh, hey... Let me introduce you! Jamie? Clint and Natasha are allies; I don’t know these other guys. Why don’t we say hi?”

She rolled off him to the side and he stepped forward. “Hi,” he said without any inflection.

Clint just stared at him with a “What the fuck?” expression; three of the  combat team looked like “Oh shit, what’s that?!”, which Tony was expecting; their team leader, and Jasper Sitwell, both had shocked looks of recognition– _Got you, you Hydra son of_ – and Natasha gasped and rolled for cover.

_What? NATASHA recognized this guy?_

Clint apparently had an understandable habit of going for cover if Natasha did, because he dove for it.  Tony hesitated because this was not anything he had expected.

The team leader snapped into command voice and said, “žilánie, ržávyj, simnátsat’, rassvét, péčʹ, dévjitʹ, dabrasirdéčnyj, vozvraščénije na ródinu, adín, gruzavój vagón.”

All Tony knew was that it was Russian, and his accent was horrible.

Jamie stiffened, and there was just a killer standing there. The team leader smiled very darkly, and opened his mouth–

Fluffy laughed, one of those pealing, high-pitched, giggling laughs that always sent chills down Tony’s back, because they were usually some kind of psychotic villain in a movie. “Jamie?  I think we want that one alive. You can kill the rest.”

“NOT SITWELL!” Tony shouted, spotlighting him and closing his faceplate.

“That one lives too!” Fluffy shouted, but Jamie was already moving.

Tony didn’t even have time to react before the first one was dead, his head at an angle that hurt to look at; he hadn’t even completely fallen to the ground when the second one died.  The Team leader pulled something that Tony recognized as a S.H.I.E.L.D.-issue heavy duty Taser–one you weren’t allowed to use on civilians in peacetime.  Jamie used the third man to block the shot; he went down seizing.

An arrow– and then another– whistled by Tony and pinned Sitwell in place;Tony wasn’t sure if it was through him, or his clothes.

Tony looked back as Jamie backhanded the team leader with his flesh arm. The man lifted off the ground and fell, and didn’t move.

Tony hadn’t had a chance to do a damned thing.

Fluffy walked up and stood out of arms reach of Jamie; he spun, still in combat mode. She smiled up at him like a kid at Christmas. “That was awesome!”

He straightened slowly out of his crouch, beginning to look like he had a headache.

“No headaches, pretty eyes, you did GOOD.” She reached up and put her arms around his neck and he reached down and picked her up into a kiss.

Tony saw Sitwell staring in terror and disbelief at them, and looked over to see Hawkeye, bow at rest position standing next to Black Widow…

She looked terrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> asset management chapter 9 for Fluffy and Jamie's POV.  
> I am using the MCU canon for this, not the comic canon, hence Natasha only knows him from one incident in her past.


	49. movement and restraint -loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lokis pov, and a bit  
> comments are my life

Loki had watched it all on the monitors.  It was all amusing until he saw the shocked recognition on the little Spider’s face, and a flash of fear–she had left the field immediately.  Loki had sworn quietly at that. Thor, who was a competent warrior no matter what else Loki might say of him, saw the motion at the same moment and leaned forward with a frown.

Coulson swore and muttered, “Who is he?”

The man in charge snapped out words that All-Speak didn’t translate– apparently the man himself had no idea what the words meant. Jamie stiffened. Fluffy laughed the laugh of one who has just watched the enemy gut themselves.

Loki smiled in response without having to know anything else. He saw Thor sit back with a studying look. Coulson look concerned. Banner, of course, simply stood quietly with a faint smile, his expression revealing nothing.

And Jamie moved.

Jamie moved like a warrior of Asgard, or Captain America, pitting themselves against mere earthly rabble.  Loki knew these were trained warriors– he had confronted some of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s trained men before– but they had not come with weapons ready and  compared to Jamie they were so very slow.

Coulson’s indrawn breath hadn’t finished before the first two were dead.

His Hawk pinned Sitwell–for so the only non-warrior must be– but then the fight was concluded.

Loki didn’t know if the man hit by the leader’s weapon was dead– if he wasn’t, then it would be well to have another to interrogate. “I know you are not ‘that kind of doctor’, but if there is a chance to save the one hit by the weapon we must act quickly,” he said to Banner.

The doors opened and they raced up.

Fluffy was quite absorbed with her champion, so Loki felt along the bond–Anthony was stunned by the speed of it, but not at all injured– and went with Coulson to the Hawk and Spider.

“Are you well, little Spider?”

“{It’s the Winter Soldier… he’s here… he can’t be here… how?}” She was standing, staring past them at Jamie.

Coulson cleared his throat, “Can we switch to English?”

Anthony came over, his suit folding back and closing up behind him. “Natasha? Clint? Apparently the guy is called Jamie, he used to be a Hydra…” He grasped at words, “brainwashed assassin, and he was with Pierce.”  He winced, “Fluffy says she owns him, and uh… yeah, I guess she does.”

 

“It’s not possible,” Natasha said, staring past them.

“PHIL?!”

Everyone turned. Thor was coming over with two arrows in one hand, and Agent Sitwell in the other.  Sitwell was staring at Coulson in stunned shock.

“Hi, Jasper,” Coulson said as calmly as if this was a normal day.

“You… you were dead…” His eyes tracked to Loki, standing next to the rest of them.  Loki realized the man looked rather broken. “He killed you…”

“Nearly killed me,” Coulson said.

“Hey guys?” Fluffy called, “Idiot with the bad Russian accent is starting to twitch.”

“Brock Rumlow,” Coulson said, “Head of STRIKE, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s heavy response teams.” He looked up calmly at Anthony, “You have a means of restraining him?”

Anthony laughed. “Actually, yeah. Jarvis? Bring up the heavy restraints.”

A hatch on the roof opened, and a suit came up on a lift. It looked MUCH heavier than Anthony’s usual suits. That turned out to be because parts of the armor detached into locking restraints. The suit then picked the man up.

Banner called over, “If we can get this guy into medical, he might make it– maybe. The AED got his heart stable.”

“Oh God, Phil… I thought…”

“I would like to know what you thought, Jasper. I really would.” Coulson nodded at Thor. “Can you bring him along?”

At that point a flood of Russian poured out of Romanov, “{You are! You’re the Winter Solider!  You shot me! What are you doing here?!}”

Jamie looked curiously at her, “{I was called that. My…}” He glanced at Fluffy, “{My handler prefers Jamie.  I do not remember you.}”

His Hawk spoke up. “Let’s get this menagerie INSIDE, shall we?” He looked at Jamie and Fluffy. “I take it we’re all under hospitality?”

Loki shook his head, “Not quite.”

Fluffy shrugged, “Jamie works for me.  His behavior is on me–I’m responsible for him. He doesn’t take any oaths separately.”

Thor nodded approvingly.  Once again Loki had to admit she was correct: as her property– or her bond-guard– his oath was in her hands.

Fluffy grinned. “Come on, Jamie. There’s food inside.”  She turned and went down the stairs; he followed after her like a black shadow.

Agent Sitwell, still held casually by Thor, was just staring after them in shock.

Romanov let herself be steered to the stairs by his Hawk.  They got a medical gurney for the downed man, and the heavy suit took Rumlow down.

Anthony directed the prisoners to an area near the lab– _ah, of course there was a small medical station there as well._

The two STRIKE team members were secured to a medical bed and a work table, respectively.  Sitwell was cuffed to a work table with more of Anthony’s restraints.

“Elskan Minn?  You didn’t mention these?”

“They aren’t the fun kind of restraints, Lo.”

Loki grinned, “They could be.”

Sitwell stared back and forth, “You… you two aren’t… Stark isn’t controlled, you two are in a RELATIONSHIP?!”

Coulson sighed, “Peculiar, isn’t it?  Our background checks need a lot of work.”

“I knew he was gay,” Sitwell muttered. “That’s why I suggested the men…”

Loki turned, “What?”

Sitwell glared at him– he seemed to have regained a bit of spark– “I suggested we try offering you men.  Based on your reactions, you were gay and had a homophobic upbringing.”

Loki started to get angry, and he thought Thor might hit him, but Barton just said, “He’s right, SIR,” – it sounded like a slap from his tutor, the way he said it– “So no point in letting it get to you.”

Sitwell stared at Barton. “You’ve been working for him the whole time?” he sounded dubious.

Anthony said, “No, he went back to working for him after Loki saved my life; before that, they only saw each other when we fought, same as the rest of us.”

Fluffy chimed up, “So who all is who… and how does NATASHA know my Jamie?”

Coulson nodded. “This is Jasper Sitwell, he’s a senior agent… and one of my best friends.  Unfortunately he’s also apparently Hydra.”

Sitwell winced and looked aside.

“That’s Brock Rumlow, head of the STRIKE team–“

“BITE me!” snarled Rumlow from the work table. _Awake then._

Coulson continued calmly, “The third man is Steven Herrick: another of the STRIKE Team, top marks in  hand to hand combat, and a good sniper.”

Fluffy  shrugged, “So those two” –she indicated Sitwell and Rumlow –“are the two that looked like they knew Jamie… so did Natasha.” She smirked, “And Rumlow there tried to use the Code phrases to pull on his leash.”

Sitwell repeated the words– without emphasis, but with a better accent.  Since he knew what they meant, All-Speak translated it as, "Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Daybreak, Furnace, Nine, Benign, Homecoming, One, Freight Car."

Jamie turned and glared at him and he cowered back.

Fluffy just grinned, “Yeah, we rekeyed the locks. That doesn’t work anymore.”

Romanov, who had not stopped watching him, said, “How did you end up with the Winter Solider, Fluffy?”

“The who?”

Jamie looked at her, “Asset, Soldier.”

“OH!  Yeah, I told him I wasn’t calling him that.” She shrugged, “We picked a name he liked.  He was at Pierce’s house when I went to kill him. He survived; I admired that; I took him home.”

“YOU killed Pierce?!” Rumlow snapped from the table, trying to get up–failing of course, since Anthony built the restraints.

Sitwell looked at her dubiously. “You?” He looked at Coulson– Coulson nodded.  _Indeed, they had been friends, and still reacted as if they were_. If Loki were honest, he might call that pain sympathy, but he ignored it.

Anthony held up a hand. “Hey, Loki and Carol… and Bruce?” Banner nodded. “Said they called dibs on interrogating these guys.” He looked at Coulson, “Unless you want an exemption for your friend.”

Barton and Romanov looked over in surprise; Loki grinned at them.

Coulson closed his eyes in a pained fashion. “I shouldn’t.”

Carol had walked in unnoticed and spoke up from the door. “Phil?  If you like, you can just put him aside for right now.  We can always question him later.”

Sitwell snapped his head over, “Who are you?”

She smiled, and then she flipped a knife out.  Anthony froze and Loki reached down the link to steady him.  He pulled him in and hissed, “I do NOT share.  Leave, you can watch through Jarvis if you wish.”

Anthony  left.

Carol held up the knife and smiled at Sitwell; Romanov suddenly looked intrigued.  Fluffy just walked out muttering something about food, and was followed by her guard.

“I’m Ms. Vivienne. I’m a professional sadist, and I USUALLY have to worry about my clients being able to walk out when I’m done.  I’ve always wondered what it would be like to not… worry.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my apologies, i have been fighting migraines and panic attacks, i will try not to upset the schedule


	50. It’s always the quiet ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> interrogation

Coulson sighed. “I SHOULD sit in on this.”

Barton shook his head, “No way, Sir. I can sit in if it will make you feel better, but I think we should leave it to the… leave it to them. I want to find out more about this ‘Winter Soldier’, because that was impressive as hell.”

“Phil…” Sitwell looked pained. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Coulson just looked bleakly at him. “Bit late.” He nodded to the two spies, and went out with Romanov and Barton.

 

Carol looked at Loki and grinned at Sitwell. Loki agreed, _by far the easier target._   They both moved toward him.

Rumlow immediately started snarling at him to keep quiet, then yelled and cut off his own yell with a strangled cry.

Loki looked over, as did Carol and Sitwell.

Bruce was standing politely next to Rumlow, apparently checking the pulse in his ankle, but Rumlow had his jaw clenched shut and looked pained.

“What?” Sitwell was staring at Bruce with a degree of concern. He looked back at Loki and back at Bruce. “Aren’t you two… uh… enemies?” His eyes drifted to Rumlow, who was shaking faintly and making a strangled noise.

“We were,” Bruce said easily, nodding at Sitwell. Then he smiled politely back at Carol and loki. “You learn all sorts of useful pressure points and things studying acupressure and yoga.” He took his hand off Rumlow’s ankle, Rumlow gasped raggedly.

Sitwell looked disbelieving at him. “You’re the Hulk.”

“Sometimes,” Bruce said pleasantly.

Sitwell stared at Rumlow.

“Don’t tell them ANYTHING,” Rumlow gritted out, although his voice sounded hoarse

Bruce simply stripped off his other boot and sock; Rumlow snapped his jaw shut and braced for pain. Bruce patted his ankle gently. “You just be nice and quiet, and nothing hurts.”

Rumlow opened his mouth, and Bruce pinched his fingers across the man’s foot. He screamed before he could shut his mouth again.

Bruce looked sort of vaguely at the two of them. “If you prefer I could knock him out.  He seems chatty.”

Carol looked dumbfounded; Loki FELT dumbfounded.

“I apologize, most sincerely, for underestimating you Doctor.”

“You’re forgiven, most people do.”  He got into a drawer, took out a small device, and pressed it to Rumlow’s neck: the man jerked and lay quiet.

“He’ll be out for a while. Please do continue.” He waved at Sitwell.

“You sure you don’t want to? You seem remarkably skilled at it,” Carol asked hesitantly.

“Oh, no. Sitwell is just a petty bureaucrat; honestly, if I started causing him this kind of pain he’d faint, or have a heart attack.  It takes a tougher person to deal with it.” Bruce went and started making himself some tea. “I’ll just listen in.”

“It’s always the quiet ones,” she said to Loki.

“I have heard that.”

“You are all insane!” Sitwell whispered.

Carol smiled at him. “Of COURSE I’m insane–I’m a psychologist. You should understand that.”

Loki grinned at him. “I’m a product of a terrible childhood, myself.”

Carol walked around behind him.  He started trying to track her and Loki moved in front of him.  He pulled out one of his knives.

“We both like knives, you understand,” Loki said pleasantly

Carol reached around from behind him, knife in her off hand, and started undoing his tie.

“What are you–“

“I like ties,” she said, removing it and setting it aside. She then started undoing the buttons on his shirt, from behind him, knife still held between her fingers.

 “You want to keep the shirt?” Loki asked curiously.

“I thought I would give it to a client; they’re about the same size.” She was almost laughing behind Sitwell’s head.

“It has holes in it from the arrows,” said Loki.

“Oh? Where?”

Loki took his knife and poked the tip into the hole near Sitwell’s armpit. “There.”

Sitwell jerked away and the knife sliced through the shirt.

“Oh, in that case, don’t bother.” She nodded and reached over, pulling his shirt down his shoulders, pinning his upper arms with it.  She nicked his ear with her knife.

Loki watched intrigued as blood started dripping from his ear. “I do keep forgetting: humans don’t heal that very quickly, do they?”

“Oh, scalp and ear wounds just bleed a lot.” She smiled. “It’s not serious.” She walked around to in front of Sitwell.

“So…” She smiled down at him. “Have you ever wanted a tattoo? Because Loki has a wonderful artistic sense.  By the time we’re done, you could have some amazing scars.  I won’t even cut through any muscles or tendons–I don’t want to upset Phil too much.”

Loki moved the blade toward him. “I can heal that, if we–“

“Whatever you want to know,” Sitwell said rapidly.

Loki came in front of him and frowned. “You’re supposed to hold out better than that.”

“Really?” Carol looked dubious. “Honestly, I get paid to cut people usually: I’m quite good.”

“I was promoted to Pierce’s consultant for the psych department!  I know everything about that!”

Bruce sipped his tea and spoke up, “I told you, not really worth the challenge.  I’m sure Rumlow will be more entertaining.”

Loki looked dubiously at him.

Carol sighed. “We could let Phil ask him some questions while we work on Rumlow? If he balks, we get him back.”

Loki looked thoughtfully at Rumlow. “He did sound like more entertainment.”

Bruce shrugged, “Sturdier anyway.”

Carol wiped off her knife. Sitwell sagged.

Bruce put down his tea cup. “I’ll take Agent Sitwell over to Phil, you two get set up for Rumlow, and I’ll be back.”

Loki barely refrained from asking if the doctor could manage.

Bruce unlocked Sitwell and, before he could move, did something to his hand that caused him to curl up shrieking.

Bruce took his hand away from him and Sitwell fell to the floor.  Bruce put his hand gently on the man’s elbow and helped him up.

“Now, I don’t need to call anyone, do I Agent Sitwell?”

“N-No.”

“Good. I’m sure a nice cup of tea, or... You drink coffee, don’t you? You should consider switching to herbal tea, much better for your nerves,” he said calmly, walking the man out of the lab.

 

Loki waited until they were gone and the door closed before he fell over laughing.

Carol grinned. “That was pathetic.”

“Indeed.”

They both looked over at Rumlow. “We shall wait for the good doctor, I think.”

Carol nodded. “That was… unexpected.”

“I had some indications before, but… indeed, unexpected.”

“Help me get him stripped?”

Loki nodded and they got to work.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the scariest part is? Bruce never raised his voice, if anything he got quieter


	51. really we need a scorecard, or a chart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i am still fighting migraines, and hubby has a fever, but i was happy i got this one up in time.  
> comments are still my life

Tony followed Fluffy and Jamie into the main rooms. _Yeah, everyone was staring at Jamie._ Fluffy dragged a platter of food over to a chair, then draped herself on top of Jamie and started feeding him.

Tony stared at that for a minute and made a note to talk about food play with Loki.

It wasn’t long after that that Thor came over and took up his spot near Jane, and the spysassins came in bracketing Coulson. Coulson looked pained and was trying to put his neutral look back on.

 _His friend betrayed him; didn’t know we had anything in common besides Pepper._ “Hurts, doesn’t it?” Tony hadn’t meant to sound that gruff at Coulson.

“Intensely,” he said, not sounding it.

“I’ve got a lot of experience with backstabbing friends, Agent:  I think he actually likes you–not that that makes it hurt less.”

Natasha backed him up. “He does. I don’t think he’s a good enough actor to fake that.”

Darcy spoke up, “So… First of all: Hi, Clint, good to see you again.  Secondly, that was like special effects level fighting; it looked like they slowed the film on the other guys. And third… I don’t speak Russian, can anyone fill me in?”

Tony looked over at Natasha and the spy gang. “Hydra wiped Jamie’s memories somehow– a lot.  If you ran into him before, it’s probably gone.”

Clint looked ill. The other two had their game faces on again.

Fluffy spoke up, “He’s remembering bits and pieces. It’s possible he’ll eventually remember you, but…“ She looked up at Jamie, “Do you remember her? It’s ok either way, Jamie. I’m not mad.”

Jamie looked up at Natasha. “No.  I think this is the Black Widow? Natasha Romanov?”

“Yes,” she said, still staring at him, but not looking frightened anymore.

“I was briefed on individuals I might encounter in my mission when I was awakened this time. I was told about you, but I was not given instructions–yet.”

Clint looked thoughtful, “So, Nat? What do you know about HIM?”

Natasha glanced at Coulson, “Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists; the ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years.”

Coulson frowned, “Fifty?”

Tony looked at Fluffy and back at everyone else. “The Arm is original Hydra make– probably World War Two era– as I said.  I can’t say anything about Jamie, but his Arm is over fifty.”

Fluffy made soothing noises at Jamie and curled up smaller on his lap. “He does use some weird turns of phrase.”

Coulson looked at Natasha, “So how do YOU know this is him?”

Natasha sighed, “He shot me.”

Jamie shook his head. “If I shot you, you would be dead.”

She smiled, “You weren’t aiming at me.  Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot at my tires near Odessa: we lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but you were there. I was covering my engineer, so you shot him straight *through* me.”

Tony startled, “For real?”

Natasha nodded. “For real: straight through. After that, I tried to go after him–or at least find out more–but it was a dead end, as if he's a ghost story.”

Everyone looked at the man sitting on the chair, with Fluffy curled up in his lap, her head on his chest.  He had his right arm around her protectively.

Jamie shook his head. “It must be from before.”

Coulson asked, “What’s the first thing you remember this time?”

“Waking up in the lab,” he said flatly. “Being given the mission brief. Reporting to Director Pierce.” He paused, “I saw that man, the one who used the codes first– he was at the lab.”

“And those words in Russian?”

Fluffy spoke up, “Control keys. Emma changed them for me. She didn’t want to tamper too much, but hey, I’m not letting them have the keys to my mission bonus!”

“Mission bonus?” Jane asked hesitantly.

“Jamie.”

At this point, Bruce came in with his hand on Agent Sitwell’s elbow.  Agent Sitwell had blood dripping from his ear– although it looked like a small cut– and looked terrified.

“Hey Tony?” Bruce smiled hesitantly, “I need to go back and help out.”

Fluffy bounced up. “Want Jamie to hold him?”

Bruce looked relieved. “Could he?”

Sitwell cowered away as Jamie got up and came over to Fluffy.

Fluffy smiled, “Just keep him from going anywhere, but don’t break him.”

Jamie shrugged and locked his Arm onto Sitwell’s.

Bruce quietly excused himself and walked back out.

Sitwell sagged, held up by Jamie. “Oh thank God.”

Several people looked confused; Tony tried not to grin.

Coulson sighed, “Put him in a chair?”

Jamie glanced at Fluffy, who nodded, and he put him in a chair, walking around behind him and putting his metal hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Isn’t Jamie great?” Fluffy bounced slightly.

Coulson sighed, “Jasper? Why?”

“That’s a big question, Phil, can you– can you narrow it down?” Jasper sat there looking miserable. Coulson sighed and got him a cup of coffee.

“What were you coming HERE for? With the STRIKE team? I know why I had Clint bring you. Why did you think you were coming?”

“To find out what was going on, with the suspicious leak, and Loki apparently running Tony Stark.  I was also supposed to evaluate anyone here for conversion.”

“Conversion?” Natasha said sharply.

“Brainwashing technique, if you want to call it that. The lab and equipment were destroyed in one of the suspicious attacks, but the main personnel got away. The question was if any of the Avengers were suited.” He sipped his coffee. “Or the science staff. I was supposed to evaluate that while Rumlow evaluated security.”

He was huddled miserably in his ruined shirt, blood down one side of his face and on his shirt collar. His tie had gone missing somewhere, too.  Tony would have felt sorry for him, except for what he was SAYING…

“That sounds pretty appalling, Jasper,” Coulson said casually. Tony once again envied the man’s poker face.

“That’s why I was relieved you were dead: I wouldn’t have to make that call on you.” Jasper sank further into his coffee. “I told Pierce you would never be a good recruit. I was just glad… just glad I wouldn’t ever have to shoot you.  I don’t think I could.”

Fluffy looked thoughtful. “Could YOU have been converted? Brainwashed?”

Jasper shrugged, “I doubt it. I was Hydra before I was S.H.I.E.L.D. I suppose it’s possible my memories have been altered, but I don’t think so.” He looked at Fluffy, then at Jamie, then back. “Uh, who are you again?”

“Fluffy!” she said cheerfully. “Hellfire Club assassin.”

“What?” Sitwell stared at her, “You aren’t joking? YOU killed Pierce?”

“That does seem to be a common response,” Coulson nodded. “No, she’s serious. She’s responsible for the explosion at Pierce’s home, and,” he glanced behind Sitwell to Jamie, “acquiring the Winter Soldier.”

Sitwell flinched.  “Right. The co-ed. In the pony shirt.”

Fluffy laughed. “Do you know, somehow no one ever looks at me? Even after the bodies start showing up? No one looks at the girl with the anime t-shirt and the short skirt or tight jeans.”

Sitwell’s head snapped up. “The girl in the hoodie? The one who dragged a body into a car?”

She waved. He sagged again, “Right, no one is looking for them HERE.”

Clint spoke up from next to Natasha, “So, given that this asshole was part of my psych evaluation, and we can’t interpret the notes we found, I have some questions.”

Sitwell looked from Coulson to Clint and back again. “So, Phil? You showed back up around the same time Stark was suddenly better?” Coulson nodded. “Figures.”

“What figures?” asked Clint.

“You were coming apart, Barton. Now you’re back to your usual self? You don’t think I noticed?” He sighed, “I just figured Loki had picked you back up.”

Clint flinched.

“I admit I never thought it was both of you.” He looked up at Coulson. “Why are you working with Loki? That’s the part that makes no sense.”

“That’s on me.” Tony shrugged. “He’s my… boyfriend? Partner? One of those words.”

Sitwell stared at him, and his eyes tracked slowly to the gold collar Tony was still wearing. “Right, you… you’re in a voluntary relationship,” Sitwell shook his head faintly, “with Loki.”

“Our background checks SUCK, Jasper,” Phil said solemnly. Tony, and several other people, just choked at Coulson using that language. Sitwell grinned though.

“Yeah, they usually do. Buncha prudes.”

“Yup,” Coulson nodded.

“He’s a sub, too?” Sitwell said dubiously, glancing at Tony again.

“As Tony put it, part of the ‘I’ll submissive you right in the face’ crowd–so’s Miss Lewis, and I think Fluffy switch hits.”

“I’m mostly a sub in bed,” Fluffy said cheerfully. “But yeah, I can play top if I wanna. I don’t normally like to work that hard, though. I prefer to just enjoy it.”

“Too?” Darcy asked. “So you’re a sub?” she said, looking at Sitwell. “I mean really, like BDSM clubs and shit?”

“That’s where I met Phil,” Sitwell sighed. Coulson winced faintly.

Tony stared at him. “AGENT? You went to a BDSM club?”

“It was pre-S.H.I.E.L.D.,” he muttered, “and yes, I do occasionally; you weren’t in the room when we mentioned that.”

Tony stared at the two of them, “Uh, you said you were friends? Like with benefits?”

Sitwell curled his lip. Coulson sighed, “No, Tony. I think our idea of that mimics your relationship with Ms. Frost: ‘Ewwww’.”

Clint looked extremely confused, “You were one of the people poking at my sex life, and you’re OKAY with this?”

“Poking at the fact that you’re a gay man into BDSM?” Sitwell sighed, “Hydra finds that kind of weakness useful, and part of my job was to derail the Avengers initiative.” He looked mournfully into the remains of his coffee. “Personally? I just kept thinking you and Phil would get together.”

Clint looked highly dubious. So did Natasha.  Coulson muttered something about “unprofessional.”

Tony shrugged, “Given that Agent didn’t know Clint was into BDSM until recently, and Clint didn’t know about  Coulson, and I didn’t know EITHER of them were gay until… well, recently in Clint’s case, and right now in Coulson’s– I think you would kind of need to give everyone a scorecard.”

Darcy shrugged, “Carol was right: none of you guys talk. We need a form or a check box or something.”

Fluffy just shook her head, “What is this, a soap opera?”

Tony nodded, “Yup. Avengers soap opera: drama and explosions.”

Darcy looked thoughtful, “Well, let’s see: superheroes, drama, explosions, BDSM, various sexualities and kinks? I’d watch the hell out of that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i admit, i too would watch the shit out of that show


	52. Cut To the Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> my apologies for the late update, migraines messed up my writing schedule  
> TW referenced torture, flashbacks, bad decisions

Natasha nodded suddenly. “So, you were evaluating us for conversion? Who had you already evaluated, and what was the answer?”

Sitwell just looked down. “The Red Room programming apparently makes you too fragile, I’m told, but Doctor Whitehead was willing to try; he’d never met one who had managed to break programming.”

She hissed abruptly and stared at him.

“Barton is considered a near perfect candidate, or he was before Phil got back.” Clint stiffened and even Phil tensed. “Stark had the issues of his heart and the Arc reactor, so no one knows; and no one knows what to do with Thor, or if his brain patterns are even the same.”

Fluffy looked curiously over, “What about Captain America?”

“As another super soldier, they anticipated using the same conditioning they used on the Winter Soldier.”

Clint’s head snapped up. “ANOTHER super soldier?”

Tony suddenly paid a lot more attention.

Sitwell nodded, “Apparently the Winter Soldier is the prototype for Hydra’s super soldier program, and the most successful.”

Fluffy frowned, “So he’s a created mutant? Not a natural one?”

“I… guess?  I was only briefed on him once Pierce requested him,” Sitwell muttered.

Tony frowned, “The words ‘prototype’ and ‘most successful’ imply more.  That’s bad.”

“I don’t know any more than that.” Sitwell sighed.

Natasha snapped out, “Anyone else already evaluated?”

“Preliminary evaluations only on most people.”

“What about Doctor Banner?” Natasha asked.

He twitched. “I have no idea what they had planned for him, but apparently,“ he glanced up at Phil,“it’s not JUST because they’re prudes: our background checks SUCK.  I thought Banner was sort of shy and pacifistic.”

Tony couldn’t help it: he laughed; he laughed hard enough that he fell into the edge of the bar where he’d been making up coffee. “Shy? Pacifistic?  Oh sweet Metallica, you guys are funny,” he said, once he could breathe.

Phil stared over at Tony, “He’s not?”

Tony looked around: everyone was just staring at him– except Fluffy, who was grinning; and Jamie, who was looking blank.

“I take it you knew better, Fluff?”

She grinned, “He is kind of shy… and he’s VERY sweet, but I like people with an edge to them.” She grabbed an orange and started peeling it. “And Brucie has a dark side, I can tell.” She looked up and grinned at Sitwell, “And then Agent Sitwell there was more scared of Brucie than of Jamie, so yeah.”

“Well, since you didn’t already have that information, I won’t give it to you,” Tony grinned at Sitwell. “But yeah, your background checks suck.”

Sitwell just shivered.

Natasha was looking in the direction of the labs. “Phil? Should we maybe take Agent Sitwell back in to see how they’re doing with Rumlow?”

“I’m answering anything you ask me!” Sitwell gripped the arms of his chair.

Fluffy shrugged, “I have some questions for Rumlow, actually. So if you guys wanna cuff him in here, I’ll take Jamie and we can ask the guy where the lab is that Jamie woke up in.” She blinked at Sitwell, “Unless you know?”

“No, I don’t.  It’s not far, but I don’t know where in DC or vicinity it is.” Sitwell was shaking and looking at Phil.

Phil nodded. “Tony? I believe you have some restraints in this room?”

Tony grinned, “You could say that. Fluffy? I need him up against that wall over there, and you might want Jamie well clear so he doesn’t panic.”

Fluffy nodded and looked at Clint. “Hey, Shoulders? Can you take him?” She stepped over to Jamie and had him take his Arm off Sitwell.

Clint grabbed Sitwell and shoved him up against the wall. There was a sound and the wall started unfolding, like one of Tony’s suits.  Sitwell found himself restrained arms and legs to the wall.  Everyone else was staring as they watched a wall turn into a restraint. Jane looked appalled and Darcy was looking fascinated.

“Shit!” Clint said, jumping back.

“I am staying out of your apartments, Tony,” Natasha said, staring at that.

Tony just grinned. “Loki said I didn’t have enough restraint points in my apartments and told me to fix it.” He looked over at Sitwell. “Comfortable?”

“Uh, actually? Yes?  It has back support?”

“Since it was intended for me? Sure.” Tony quirked an eyebrow at Coulson. “Besides, I was getting tired of weird secret agent people breaking in; you should see my plans for the elevator.”

Fluffy shrugged, “So who wants to come with me?”

Tony grimaced, “I’m not allowed.”

“Not... allowed?” Jane frowned. “Look, I may not know about all this… stuff… but when a boyfriend starts telling you what you’re allowed to do it’s bad.”

Several people looked like they might be agreeing with her.

Sitwell coughed, “That is, actually, unhealthy.” He was glared at by the Spysassins.

Coulson nodded, “It is usually. It’s also completely unlike Tony to accept that. There are, I believe, extenuating circumstances, however.”

Tony sighed. “I have a KNIFE kink, remember?” He looked pointedly at Clint. “My sharps-wielding boyfriend didn’t want me in there while he and Ms. Vivienne were playing with knives.” He grumbled, “Damn it.”

Jane looked stunned. Darcy just nodded, “Yeah, probably a good idea.”

Clint winced and went, “Right, right, I forgot.” Most other people looked embarrassed.

Sitwell groaned, “Suck, they utterly suck; if there are any of the profiling department left, they all need to be fired.”

Fluffy just laughed, “So? Anyone coming along or is it just me and Jamie?”

Coulson sighed, “I’ll go. Clint? Natasha? Finish up? But remember, he has been cooperating.”

Tony looked over at Sitwell as they walked out, “So… hey, as long as you’re testing out the restraint system, mind if I try a few things?”

*

Loki was listening attentively–and being glad of the laboratory jumpsuits they wore– as Ms. Vivienne was demonstrating how to stop bleeding if you accidentally cut too deeply near a surface vein, when Bruce cleared his throat. Loki only heard him because Rumlow had stopped screaming again and was just panting.

“Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we have visitors...”

Loki waited until she had finished to look over. Fluffy was standing by the main table, head tilted curiously, watching.  Jamie standing behind her with an eerily blank look, and Coulson trying to look professional while his eyes were wide and he was breathing erratically.

Bruce of course, was still sitting in his chair with his tea and his physics journal, where he had been since he came back.

“What…” Coulson swallowed a bit, “What have you been asking him?”

Loki blinked, “Asking him?”

Ms. Vivienne looked over thoughtfully, “We actually thought we would see what you got out of Sitwell first, since he was being so cooperative…” She then suddenly straightened up. “Jamie? Are you alright?”

Loki turned his head just in time to see Jamie swing his Arm out and crush a metal cabinet.

Bruce came to his feet quickly. Coulson spun with a gun.

Fluffy spun, staring at him. Before Loki could react Jamie moved forward, past Fluffy, heading straight for them.

In the next instant Loki was fighting for his life. It was only Loki because he’d moved to interpose himself between Jamie and Ms. Vivienne, but once Jamie had locked on to him his attention was committed.

Jamie was fast, and strong, and unlike Thor he wasn’t hesitating or trying to do anything as ridiculous as capture him. Loki had speed on his side, and more years of experience–especially years spent ducking Asgardian warriors who thought him weak– but unfortunately, Loki WAS fighting to capture or disable.

It took him several flurries of moves before he could summon one of his illusionary clones. After that, luckily it was a simple matter to get the breathing space to send him to sleep with magic.

“Oh my God, I am SO SORRY!  I didn’t think Jamie would react like that are you hurt please tell me you aren’t hurt?” Fluffy was babbling at them.

Carol, from the floor behind Rumlow, said, “Fine, just feel like the floor is a good place right now.”

Loki reappeared, “Quite well, just… startled.”

Coulson snapped out, “Fine.”

Bruce, his voice slurred, said,  “Well, you can tell Tony the sedative works,” as he slid to the floor and dropped a small object.

“I’m sorry!” Fluffy said miserably. “Shit, I’m a bad owner. I didn’t realize… will Jamie be okay?”

“He is asleep… rather like Doctor Banner.” Loki went over to help Ms. Vivienne up.

“I just wanted to find out where the Winter Soldier lab was,” Fluffy sniffled. “So Jamie could go wreck it.”

A hoarse voice from the lab table, “If I tell you, will you please turn me over to Coulson, or Fury?”

Coulson answered immediately, “Yes.”

Rumlow gave them the address, and the number of guards that had been there before, and the location of the exits, and a warning about the automated intruder systems.

Then he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have trouble understanding how this snapped Rumlow, ask, but remember they were usin him as a practice dummy. they never asked him anything. aso Bruce sat off to the side reading and drinking tea.  
> i will be writing jamies POV but for now? well white uniforms, knives and an arm....


	53. Apologies and Apples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The corresponding "Asset Management" chapter should be up this weekend, my apologies for the delay

Tony was busy testing various permutations of restraints that the wall could turn into.  Depending on their personal opinions of this the audience found it either terrifying or fascinating.  Tony suspected Sitwell found it both terrifying AND fascinating judging from the bio monitors in the restraints.

“I believe the situation in the labs requires assistance.” Jarvis’ cool voice interrupted.

“What situation, Jarvis?” Tony reverted the restraints to default.

“Mister Jamie appears to have had an… incident. He attempted to attack Mister Laufeyson–“

“Is Loki alright!? Wait–” He felt along the bond. “He’s ok, just spooked a bit.” Tony settled back. The people more used to the bond relaxed or looked reassured; Darcy and Jane looked confused.

“Anyone else hurt?”

“No. However, Doctor Banner wished to inform you that the tranquilizer worked, Sir.”

“Aw, crap,” Tony winced. “Keep an eye on Sitwell, Jarvis. Nat? Clint?” They started moving. “Thor? Stay here and make sure there isn’t a problem!”

Thor had already stood up to go with them and hesitated.

Jane sighed, “Thor? If Loki’s not hurt, but he’s upset? Maybe you two shouldn’t be in the same room….”

Thor sighed, “You are likely correct, my lady, but I don’t like It.” He sat back down.

 

Tony skidded into the lab.  Coulson had Bruce lying down flat, Jamie was sprawled on the floor, lots of tables and equipment had been banged around, and Fluffy was dumping her backpack onto a table and shoving fruit snacks at Loki.

“Here! Here! I’m sorry! Carol? Do you like blueberry? I have chocolate?”

Then Tony saw Rumlow and stopped.

Tony knew what Loki’s usual work looked like, and there were elements of it– a fragment of a tree on his upper arm, runes on his chest, a bird of some sort on his leg– but there were also what looked like random cuts– one or two deep, most shallow– with a few in places it simply wasn’t safe to play in…

He heard when Clint noticed: a faint gasp, and then, “Please tell me that isn’t what you do with TONY?!”

Tony snorted, “Shit no, that’s awful!”

Carol fended off another packaged snack from Fluffy, “Thank you? Can I eat this one first?” She looked up at Clint. “No, I was demonstrating safety and problems, since we had a test subject.”

Loki shrugged. “Certainly not.  This was simply safety lessons.”

“We hadn’t done anything major, it was just surface work.” Carol nodded. “The sorts of problems that Loki might encounter in consensual knife play– say, if someone moved unexpectedly.”

Fluffy was worriedly trying to hand Coulson an apple…

Natasha looked thoughtfully at the pile of stuff and the backpack. “You carry a lot of food.”

“It’s mine.” Fluffy looked dubiously at her.

“You seemed intent on giving it to–“ Natasha started.

Fluffy clutched the food to her chest and moved between them and the backpack, “They were upset, it’s my fault. You weren’t.”

Carol came over and said soothingly, “It’s fine, they won’t take your food, will they?” She glared pointedly past Fluffy at Tony, Clint, and Natasha.

Tony held up his hands, “Nope! Got plenty.”

Natasha’s eyes widened just a bit. “Certainly not. Neither would Clint.”

Fluffy frowned at Tony. “Oh. Yeah, it’s your lab.” She held out a package of peanuts.

“It’s cool Fluff, I still have super soldier drink. Uh… what happened?”

Carol spoke up, “At a guess? Jamie had a traumatic flashback.” She nodded at Rumlow, who seemed to have woken up, “Jamie came straight at us.”

Fluffy nodded sadly. “It’s my fault. Remember he panicked in your lab, Tony? I should have realized….”

Loki frowned, “He panicked in the lab before?”

“The smaller lab, where I worked on his Arm, yeah.” Tony shrugged. “Hey, Rumlow. Hydra, huh?”

“You’re awfully calm about your owner cutting people up,” Rumlow snarled.

Tony shrugged. “Hey, Coulson, step away from Bruce?” He had Jarvis drop the antidote pen into his open hand, and gave him the shot.

“Bruce? It’s Tony, you weren’t out long, you’re safe, everyone’s fine…”

“The tranquilizer worked,” Bruce said, sitting up slowly, “and I don’t even feel hungover!  That actually worked great!”

“Yup! Can you get over to a med scanner so Jarvis can get more than the basics on you?”

Bruce nodded.  Loki came over and helped him up, “Doctor.”

“I’m SORRY!!!!” Fluffy ran over and hugged him, then tried to shove a meal bar at him.

Tony sighed, “Jamie had a panic attack, it’s cool. Not like half of us don’t have them.”

He saw Natasha put on her blank face and Clint flinched.

“Right,” Clint said. “Uh, so you were doing safety demos on Rumlow? Uh…”

Tony looked over at Rumlow, “Oh, as to my ‘owner’? I think you mean either my dom or my boyfriend.  And cutting people up?” Tony grinned at him viciously, “That’s what we do for fun.” He looked at Loki, “Can you clean him up, Babe? He doesn’t deserve to have even that second-rate work of yours on him.”

Loki smiled, “Of course, it’s why I cut the runes in first.”  He walked over and made one small cut in the first rune on Rumlow’s chest, finishing the pattern. There was a flare of green through all of the cuts and they sealed closed, then were gone.

Rumlow gasped and then looked down in shock.

Coulson started badly, Natasha gasped, and Clint swore. Fluffy jumped and clapped her hands, “Cool!”

Tony shrugged, “Ok, so we need to get Jamie up?”

Carol walked back over to Rumlow and he tensed. “Coulson, you said–“

Coulson nodded. “He asked to be turned over to me or Director Fury, in exchange for answering a few questions.”

Tony looked thoughtful, “You broke him, Lo?”

“I hadn’t thought so, but apparently he was more put out by  our lessons than anticipated.”

Carol smiled sharply down at Rumlow, “Hey, if you don’t cooperate with them, maybe they’ll give you back. I’d love to teach a class on body piercing.”

Rumlow glared at her. “Bitch,” he muttered.

Fluffy looked around. “Can you guys give me some space so I can wake Jamie up?”

Tony nodded. “Loki? You knocked him out?” Loki nodded. “Can you carry him back to my small lab?”

“Of course.” Loki picked the man up and carried him out.  Fluffy tried to give Carol, Bruce, and Phil one more round of food, and then scooped the food back into her backpack and ran out after them.

Clint stared after her. “She seemed upset.”

Carol sighed, “She was crying about being a bad owner–” She stopped and looked back at Rumlow. “Can you knock him out?”

Tony nodded and took a stunner out; Rumlow must have recognized it because he flinched  and said “Fuck” right before Tony activated it.

Carol nodded after Fluffy and Jamie. “Add two more to the ‘needs counseling’ roster.”

Clint looked over at Bruce, and glanced at Phil. “Uh, Bruce? You were ok before Jamie went off?”

Bruce looked confused at him, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Natasha looked hesitant.  “Well, watching someone get cut up usually bothers people.”

Bruce shrugged, “They didn’t do anything serious, it was all surface cuts.”

Phil put a hand over his face, “Jasper was right. I used to think it was just that the psych team was full of vanilla straight prudes– now I wonder if they actually do any work at all, or they crib their notes from somewhere.”

Tony nodded, “Right, well everyone let’s get back to the main room. Jarvis, keep an eye on these two.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Sitwell twitched when Bruce came in, and tried to shrink in the wall restraints, which caused more people to look at him oddly, and then at Bruce.

Loki got there just after they walked in. “Fluffy is dealing with Jamie, but she did want me to relay her apologies, again.”

 “Why? What did SHE do?” Darcy asked.

Loki nodded toward Thor. “Her– Jamie attacked someone, albeit not truly intentionally.  She is, as she said, responsible for him: therefore, she apologizes.”

Thor nodded, “She is an honorable woman. Was…” He frowned, “Was her guard injured?”

Tony sighed, “He had a PTSD flashback.”

Loki spoke quickly in Asgardian, and Thor looked enlightened. “Oh!  Well, yes, accidental, but she still would owe repayment for injury.”

“I kept him busy until I could send him to sleep.” Loki shrugged.

“So!” Tony said unhappily. “What are we going to do with these guys? We can’t send them back to S.H.I.E.L.D. jail cells, and my limited holding facilities won’t cut it.”

Clint frowned and looked at Phil. Phil sighed, “We do have a few holding facilities that can be cleared out, to ensure no one but our people are in them– but yes, that is an issue.”

Natasha shrugged, “We could cut their throats.”

Jane looked horrified– then even more horrified when she realized how few OTHER people looked horrified.

Tony sighed, “How about we order in food until Fluffy and Jamie get back and we have the whole group again. These guys were mostly a danger to Jamie.”

They ordered food. Phil stood over with a notepad asking Jasper questions and looking unhappy.  Jasper flinched any time Bruce moved or looked at him, and whenever Carol grinned in his direction– which was often.

About the same time food showed up, Fluffy came in with Jamie.  Tony was surprised, but pleased, to see that Jamie looked okay: if anything, he looked better than he had been looking. Tony felt like kicking himself for not noticing the stress.

“I’m really sorry!” was the first thing Fluffy said.

Jamie put his arm on hers. “I apologize. I wasn’t seeing… you.” He nodded at Loki and then at Carol.

Loki nodded, “I do understand that.”

Carol looked at both of them, “I think the majority of people in this room have experience with that to some degree.” She nodded.

Tony shrugged, “So, food?”

Fluffy perked up, “Always! After we eat, I have to go. Rumlow gave us the address for the control lab for Jamie, so if we’re gonna trash it, we need to get there soonish.” She grabbed a plate of food for herself and made sure Jamie got a big platter.

Tony frowned, “You want me to go, for the tech.”

Coulson frowned, “We want at least one S.H.I.E.L.D. observer to go.”

Clint sighed, “And we still have no place to put the prisoners.”

Fluffy blinked. “The Club has cells.”

Clint stared at her. “The Hellfire Club? Has cells… for people like Rumlow?”

She smirked. “Yeah. We have the FUN cells for club members and the ‘fun if you aren’t the one in them’ cells for people who cause trouble.”

Sitwell muttered, “Well, that’s worrisome.”

“Hey!” Tony suddenly sat up. “Can you have,” he hesitated, “the White Queen look at their information about Hydra? Without hurting them? Just in case we missed anything?”

“Sure. I mean, maybe not right away.”

Loki sighed. “Agent Coulson? There is a specific question for you.”

“What?”

“If Agent Sitwell voluntarily agrees, I could either bind him directly to you, or add him to the existing bindings. I will remind you that swearing falsely will kill him messily.”

Phil looked like Loki had knifed him– again.


	54. Ground Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki is unutterably mean, cruel, and vicious to Tony...

“Do we WANT a Hydra psych advisor to Pierce on our side?” Tony asked calmly. “I mean, even assuming he was willing to and didn’t, you know, melt or something.”

“Melt?” Clint asked.

Loki nodded, “Falsely swearing to the bindings triggers the worst possible reaction, all at once.  The last one essentially melted.”

Darcy spoke up, “Hey… Agent papers? Phil?”

Coulson looked pained, “Yes, Miss Lewis?”

“Hydra were Nazi bastards, but I get the impression you wouldn’t be friends with someone who was a racist scumbag, if you knew that, so… why would he be in Hydra in the first place?”

“Good question, Jasper. Got a good answer?”

“Order. Look at the world, Phil.” Jasper sighed, “It’s a mess. Factions, competing rules… We’re one short fuse away from nuclear war at any given time.  It seemed like the best answer.” He paused. “They have their problems, but I didn’t see anything better.”

Fluffy spoke up. “So there’s a possibility they have some kind of super brainwashing?”

“Conversion,” Sitwell sighed, “under Doctor Whitehead. I’m told it works very well.”

Fluffy shrugged, “Well, Jamie was programmed as hell– you know the control words they kept trying to use? And that’s probably old…. So I don’t think you can say for sure if he CAN take oath, until we make sure he isn’t just brainwashed.”

“That had been asked,” Tony nodded.

“So…. We drag all three of them over to the club, and I leave a note for Boss Lady to check them out, okay? Then we go smash stuff and kill people?”

“You seem pretty enthused on killing people…” Darcy said hesitantly.

“A girl needs a hobby.” Fluffy shrugged, “Crochet only takes me so far.”

Jamie snorted and grinned just a bit.

“So… Bruce!” Fluffy looked up happily, “You want to tag along?”

Bruce ducked his head slightly, “I better not.  Having the Hulk get loose close to D.C. would be all kinds of bad.”

Tony nodded, “You’ll want me for the tech, and I think the spysassins can come along to head back to Fury.”  He looked at Loki, “You need to stay and be the liaison to the Hellfire Club and keep working on the rest of this.”

Loki nodded, “Unfortunate but true.” He looked at Coulson, “which means I will be here for the bindings IF agent Sitwell is determined to be able to give oath–and wants to– or is freed of compulsion.”

Clint sighed, “Right.”

Then suddenly Natasha straightened up with a friendly, brilliant, terrifying smile. “Does that mean we get to go to the Hellfire Club?”

Fluffy smirked, “Under oaths and alliances? And with me? Yes. But when it’s not a party there isn’t that much to see.” She grinned at Clint, “Oh, well, I could give you a personal tour of the playrooms.”

Clint looked dubiously at her, “I don’t sub, seriously.” He shrugged, “And truthfully I’m more interested in guys for sex; I mostly stick with straight BDSM otherwise.”

Thor looked like he might disappear into the floor, Tony was amused to note.

Fluffy grinned, “I was counting on that.”

Loki nodded slowly. “If the rest of you could prepare the three prisoners for transport and assemble whatever you need, I wish to speak to Anthony and my Hawk.  If both Anthony AND our second in command are going, we need to make arrangements.”

Shortly thereafter, everyone else was busy, and Tony, Clint, and Loki were in a private conference room.

“Okay, Lo… if it was just tactical stuff we would have other people in here, so? What’s up?” Tony asked.

Clint blinked, “Oh. Right, you would…” he looked more sharply at Loki, “So what’s up?”

“To be blunt, I think we need to discuss ground rules on matters other than business.”

Tony honestly didn’t get it for a minute, but Clint caught on fast.. “I’m not trying to steal your boyfriend.” Clint smiled faintly, “Wherever you got that idea.”

Tony found himself coughing, “Lo?! Geez, you think I’d cheat?!  I might have limited self-control but we’re going over there for business!”

Loki sighed, “I neither think you would cheat, Anthony, nor do I think that Barton would attempt to encourage that. However, I have been talking to Ms. Vivienne about relationship expectations, and I think we need to have a discussion about it BEFORE Fluffy throws you all into a playroom.”

“What?”

“Oh geez, she would, wouldn’t she?” Clint sighed and put a hand over his face.

“I simply think this needs to be settled before the two of you are either faced with temptation, OR faced with a post-battle situation, especially since Lady Fluffy has expressed a distinct interest in you, my Hawk.”

“Yeah and she has fan fic of me topping Tony,” He sighed.

“What? She does?” Tony felt offended for a moment, then blinked, “Is it good?”

“Yeah, it’s decent– not the best I’ve read, but she has a lot of humor in it, so it’s fun anyway,” Clint shrugged.

Tony frowned, “Post-battle situation?”

Loki shrugged, “After combat many people are more interested, and what if you ran into someone who used knives?”

“Huh.” Tony looked thoughtful. “Well, normally I’d head home and either take a long hot shower with my best hand, or go pick up a one night stand, so I guess I just figured it would be  a bit of dancing with myself, ya know?”

“Are you actually quoting Billy Idol?” Clint asked him dubiously.

“Yes,” Tony nodded.

Clint shrugged, “I’m used to not having an outlet after missions unless I’m lucky.” Then he frowned, “But you’re right, Sir, the dynamic has changed.  I’d have a KNOWN and security-vetted person on the team…” He glanced at Tony, “A good looking, known, and security-vetted person, who has the right kind of interests.”

Tony preened a bit–habit. “Well, Clint isn’t my usual taste in men, but…” He shrugged, “Ok, If I’m being honest, he’s good looking, just not my usual style? And watching him take charge has been interesting.” He looked at Loki. “So, you laying down the law on ‘no touching’ so we have it settled with Fluffy?”

Loki sat back thoughtfully. “No.”

“Right, no touching. There, done,” Tony nodded.

Clint frowned. “He didn’t say that,” he said, looking suspicious at Loki.

“Sure he did.”

Loki smiled, and that was an evil, evil smile: that was a smile that tied you to the sofa and made you beg, smile. “No, I said I wasn’t laying down any such law.  I happen to trust my Hawk as my second…  and of course, I trust my Anthony… so I’m suggesting we discuss just how much touching is permitted.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seriously, Tony would have been much happier with a firm NO. (and yeah, Loki knows it.)  
> ADDED NOTE:  
> BUT REMEMBER there are still serious cultural differences that exist, and are a major factor.


	55. We’re hunting Wabbits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from a Bugs Bunny cartoon  
> please read the notes

Tony was certain he and Clint looked really odd for the entire trip to the Hellfire Club.  Natasha kept eyebrow semaphoring at Clint and Clint kept pretending he didn’t know the language anymore.

Tony was a bit put out that he’d never known the Club had vans where the inside had combat reinforcing and extra support frames with securing points that they’d chained Rumlow to– it was unnerving.

“So… question,” Fluffy asked when they were most of the way there. “Well, questions.”

“Go ahead,” Tony sighed.

“One, so about Rumlow… can I have him?” Fluffy asked cheerfully. Rumlow snapped his head over and glared at her over his gag.

“What?” Tony was hoping he hadn’t heard that right.

“Is he, like, yours? And you just want him questioned and held, which would be your right as an Inner Circle member and you know that vote is just a formality–“

“A right to what?” Clint asked sharply.

Fluffy shrugged, “Tony and Loki are being considered for membership in the Inner Circle.  The Board of Directors? For the Club.”

Agent Sitwell, who was both awake and not gagged, unlike the other two–unconscious and gagged, respectively– asked thoughtfully, “I assume they know who Loki IS?”

“Duh.”

Natasha had her studiously blank look on again. “Inner Circle members can have people questioned and held?”

“Hey, as long as it doesn’t step on Club business, or cause bad publicity, or touch on other Inner Circle members claimed turf? Sure.” Fluffy looked like she’d just realized something and added, “Don’t sweat it: Tony already claimed the Avengers.”

Clint very slowly asked, “If he hadn’t, could you throw us in a cell for kicks?”

Fluffy lay back on Jamie and looked over thoughtfully. “In theory? Sure. In practice? You guys are kind of important and high profile and you know, defending the planet and shit, and interfering with that causes the stock market all sorts of issues and people would be mad.” She shrugged and fed Jamie a slice of cheese. “Besides, using club resources for kidnapping people for personal amusement is considered a sign of weakness, then it’s like lions of the Serengeti time.”

Tony frowned, “So it’s okay if you did it on your own?”

“I never said it was okay, but it wouldn’t be CLUB business, would it?”

“Oh.” Tony sighed, “No, it wouldn’t, unless you were sloppy.”

For some reason the Spy Twins were staring at him; come to that, Sitwell was staring at him; come to that, Rumlow was staring at him.

Clint, slightly hesitantly, asked,  “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

“Me? Geez, no. Jamie is the first person I kept that I planned on, you know, living,” she said cheerfully. “I don’t have any personal cells, and I never kept anyone else longer than a couple days anyway.”

Tony did not, absolutely did not, want to know, but then Sitwell had to ask, “Who else have you kept? Why?”  _Damn psych. Why do they ask this stuff? People might ANSWER them!_

Fluffy rolled over and looked cheerfully at Sitwell. “Well, the LAST one was just a spy in the Hellfire Club, so I took it easy on him; I think he belongs to Mercedes now.  The one before that was a slave trafficker, so I lost my temper and killed him after a couple of days, although I think he might have been glad. Anyway, we’re here.”

Tony was feeling pretty subdued as they pulled in. He only started paying attention when they went further into an area of the garage that…

“Uh, Fluff? Was this here before?”

“Huh? Oh, fake wall holographic projector or something.” She shrugged. “Jamie? This is where we brought you in; I don’t know if you remember?”

“I remember… some.” He said edgily.

“It’s okay, this is just the easiest way to bring those guys in.” She waved at Rumlow, chained to the wall of the van, and the unconscious man, and sort of idly at Sitwell. Jamie looked dubious.

The van opened up and Fluffy started giving orders. “Individual cells for those two, tagged to Stark and me, and that guy needs medical but he’s a prisoner so don’t waste too much effort.”

People started moving, including some of the Club’s more professional-looking guards in what looked almost like S.H.I.E.L.D.-issue uniforms. Tony tried not to twitch at the Tasers.

Natasha frowned, “This is unnerving, Tony. These are people you deal with?”

“No. I’ve never seen this area; didn’t even know it was here.” _Damn I wish Loki was here; it was a lot easier to be a villain when you were distracted by those lips… and eyes… and hands… and the rest of him…_

“Tony?” Clint nudged him.

“What?” Tony blinked.

“You kind of spaced.”

“Sorry. This is really unnerving, actually,” he said quietly.

“Hey, can you three wait upstairs? I need to pack…”

“Yes!” Tony said immediately. “Happily! How do I go upstairs?”

They got directed to the elevator and Tony envied Clint and Natasha their poker faces. Once they were back in the Club proper he headed straight to the bar.

Natasha frowned, “Should you be…?”

“No, I shouldn’t, but that… that was creepy.” He had the bartender give him a scotch and threw back a swallow…

He frowned at it. “Is this watered?”

The bartender looked offended. “Certainly not.”

He took another drink.  He frowned again.  He finished it off. He frowned some more. _What the hell is wrong with the scotch?_

Clint and Natasha pulled him away from the bar. “Care to show us around? This is like our one chance to be in here, right?” asked Clint.

“Right. Well, maybe. Leaving any bugs or taking any pictures and stuff is off limits– you do know that, right?”

Clint quietly said, “That was a professional and very thorough intake area. S.H.I.E.L.D. level…”

Natasha looked a bit mournful, “Yes, I can still LOOK.”; then added, almost subliminally, “Guards were pros, and the medical were combat trained.”

Tony showed them the public areas– _thankfully they stopped talking about the really unnerving intake area_ –then the private areas…

Natasha commented, “Other than the number of bedrooms available, this looks like a wealthy club building.” She shrugged.

“Yeah, and in the ‘not as deep in the basement as we were’ level there are bondage and play rooms and stuff.” _How could Clint look so… normal? I mean, wasn’t he even wondering? Probably not, he knew what I was into– I just didn’t know about HIM._

 “There’s the buffet– which is fabulous, of course; best chef in town–and then the library, which is awesome, is through there, but if I go in there you won’t get me out for hours.”

“A library?” Natasha asked curiously.

“I like knowledge.  Also, I always met Emma in libraries: her house, mine, here…”

When a new voice spoke up, both spies turned – _seriously, in unison, like it was choreographed_ –“Hello, Tony, who are your guests?”

“Roberto!” Tony grinned, “You’re back in the country? Haven’t seen you in ages!  Roberto da Costa, this is Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton, otherwise known as Black Widow and Hawkeye.”

Tony watched the handsome, dark-haired, Brazilian Roberto turn the charm on full blast, and tried not to snicker as he wasted it on Natasha, “Truly? An honor then!” He bowed over her hand. Clint was definitely giving the guy the once-over now that he was distracted by Natasha.  Tony would have to break it to him gently that Roberto was only into girls. _God knows I’d tried: he was gorgeous, after all._

“Friend of yours, Tony?” Clint asked curiously. Tony could hear the unspoken question.

“Acquaintance,” Tony answered, trying to subtly shake his head.

“Wounded, I’m utterly WOUNDED.” Roberto clutched his chest. “Tony managed to steal my escort from me, we’re obviously mortal enemies!”

Clint grinned, “Well, he’s dating his last mortal enemy…”

Roberto tilted his head. “Ah, yes.” His eyes sharpened and he looked at Tony. “You said you might get these two in the divorce settlement– do I take it you did?”

Tony drew in a breath. “How did you hear that?”

Natasha and Clint were doing the Significant Eyebrow thing again.

Roberto smiled, “Oh, of course. I was out of the country when you and Loki had your interview. I’m another member of the Inner Circle.”

Tony was stunned, frankly. “Aren’t you kind of young?”

“I’m older than Fluffy.” He looked amused.

“Divorce?” Natasha asked quietly.

“From S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Tony admitted. “I was pointing out that the One Big Happy Team thing was a fiction, and Lo and I were hoping to get the two of you in the divorce.” He looked at Roberto, then back at them, and shrugged, “Hoping to get Clint, and figured you might come along.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. Clint just nodded, “That makes sense. God knows you two need someone to manage you or you fall over.”

Roberto looked thoughtful, “And you… manage them?”

Clint shrugged, “I’m their Second, which usually boils down to trying to convince them to eat, and possibly sleep, on something like a regular schedule.”

“Not what I would expect from the Avengers,” Roberto admitted.

“ROBERTO!!!!!” Fluffy squealed as she came bounding into the room. She was followed by Jamie, carrying a large number of heavy looking packs as if they didn’t weigh anything.

“We’re going on a raid! Wanna come!?” Fluffy was bouncing happily, but she hadn’t hugged Roberto. _Interesting_.  He saw that Clint and Natasha noted it too. Jamie looked _… jealous? Maybe?_

“A raid? Sounds tedious.” _And Roberto was being friendly, but not flirting? Da fuq?_

“Nope!” She waved at the group to indicate them. “We’re going hunting Hydra scientists! And goons!  Real Nazi Evil Scientists with brainwashing and stuff!  The ones that were running Jamie?” She waved at Jamie. “He gets first shot, but there’s going to be LOTS of smashing, and probably some valuable personnel to acquire, and lots of research and tech toys for Tony–“

Roberto held up a hand and Fluffy stopped, bouncing up and down on her toes.

“Is that how you stop her?” murmured Natasha.

“You want me? To come with you? To…?”

Tony looked at Roberto in his flawless outfit and polished hair and manicured hands. “Seriously, it’s a combat mission, Roberto, not a corporate raid.”

Roberto grinned, “I’d be delighted, but are you expecting to have enough left to study?”

Tony nodded firmly, “Yes, that’s why I’m going.”

“I’m pretty strictly in the ‘break things’, category.” he glanced at Fluffy and Jamie, “and I think you have that covered.”

“You are?” Tony asked.

Roberto just grinned. “When you get back? Maybe we can spar.” He smirked, “Assuming you have a spare suit...”

“You… think you can take me on in my suit?”

Roberto just grinned.  He then turned and bowed politely to Natasha and nodded at Clint. “Good fortune to you all.” He glanced at Fluffy, and kept addressing them. “Don’t forget to take some food from the buffet for the trip.”

“OH! Yeah, you guys should pack some fruit and drinks and food and stuff: it’s a long drive,” Fluffy nodded.

Tony frowned, “The Quinjet is faster.”

“Yeah? And a van or two is less noticeable. Also, I always sleep on the way to missions.”

“You do?” Clint asked.

“Yeah, usually.” She grinned up at Jamie and then over at Clint, “Although I could be persuaded to do other stuff.  My van has a mattress.”

Clint just looked amused. Tony had a really awkward feeling about this.

Jaimie blinked, “I hope you replaced it; I remember bleeding on it.”

“Oh, yeah, it was a lost cause. New mattress.”

Clint shrugged, “Well, let’s grab extra food and get going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all, yes i am still fighting migraines. i am also getting ready for hubby to have foot surgury,, so things have been a bit stressed.  
> 1\. there are major cultural differences in play with Loki (i addition to the fact that he IS a trickster, and has a rather different sense of humor)  
> 2\. It's one thing to know the hellfire Club has private cells and medical people who dont ask questions, its a different thing to SEE it.  
> 3.Roberto de Costa, aka Sunspot, has a slightly different history here but is a CANON member of both the New Mutants and the Hellfire Club in comic books


	56. Road Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heading back south to take out the Winter Soldier facility near D.C.
> 
> NOTE: Asset Management chapters to be posted soon (please read notes)

“Smart dude!” Fluffy had said cheerfully at one of the drivers. “Jamie? This is the guy who actually stuck around with the CAR… and helped get you home!”

Jamie looked a bit puzzled but nodded.  The man in question stared at Fluffy, then Jamie, “THIS guy?  He was… uh…”

“Impressively still breathing!” Fluffy said proudly. “Oh, hey, Tony? Clint? Natasha? I have no idea what smart dude’s name is, but he reacts well in a crisis and follows orders.”

“You’re Tony Stark?!” he said in a strangled fashion…

“Yup,” Tony nodded.

Natasha shrugged, “Reunions can wait, let’s get moving.”

There were three vans going down: an equipment van, a more mundane back up van– and the main transport van. It was a similar van to the prior one, but most of the seats had been removed and a mattress put in–a large mattress.

Fluffy promptly sprawled on one side of the mattress and started making a blanket nest with a bag of food in the middle of it. 

The other driver showed up, “Hi, Ma’am.” He glanced at Jamie, “I see he made a full recovery?”

“He’s called Jamie now.  And this is Tony, Clint, and Natasha.”

“Your usual stops on route down?”

“Unless they need more? Yeah...”

“Where do you usually stop? Clint asked.

“Maryland or Chesapeake House depending on traffic, sometimes at the Delaware Service Plaza before that.” Fluffy nodded, pulling out a notebook. “I usually work on fan fiction and eat a bit, then nap and the guys wake me up at the rest stop... but if you wanna do anything else, let me know?” she grinned invitingly at Clint.

Clint smiled politely, “Not before a mission. After, maybe.”

They got settled–Tony, Clint, and Natasha in the seats along one side; Fluffy and Jamie on the mattress on the other– and  drove off.  Fluffy lay on the mattress and wrote in her notebook. After a while, she pulled Jamie down and kissed him, which he returned rather enthusiastically, but it didn’t seem to go any further than that.  By an hour into the trip, Fluffy was curled up asleep with an arm over Jamie’s leg, and Jamie was sitting up against the wall on the edge of the mattress, not really looking at anything.

Tony tried keeping himself occupied with technical work: it helped a little.

Eventually, however, he heard Natasha muttering angrily at Clint in Russian.  Clint was answering quietly in hesitant Russian.  The word “Loki” was said, and Tony was pretty sure the words for “sex” and “limits” and “safewords” were in there.

_Sigh._

“You guys know I can pick up a sex partner and do basic negotiations in more languages than I can speak, right?” he said quietly.

Clint almost jumped. Natasha frowned.

Jamie said quietly in English, “I speak Russian, and my hearing is excellent.” He picked his head up and looked at Tony, “They basically said that Loki set some strange limits on you and Hawkeye playing sex games, and he doesn’t understand it and he’s not sure you do either, so he’s just decided to stick with ‘No’– the rest is details.”

Tony grinned, “Thanks.”  Jamie nodded slowly. Tony shrugged and continued talking. “Yeah, Nat. Loki called us aside and said he trusted both of us so he was establishing exact limits for what we could do and then he  did, and… I don’t get it, because up until then he was REALLY emphatic on not sharing.”  He kept his voice down enough to hopefully not disturb Fluffy. The two guys up front were listening to music so he figured they wouldn’t hear it.

“So you don’t understand it either?”

“No.”

“Why didn’t you ask?”

“I was stunned?” Tony frowned, “Also, a part of me was wondering if it was a trick.”

Clint shook his head, “I don’t think it’s a trick–or not JUST a trick– I just think we missed something important and I was a bit stunned at the time to ask.”

They sat there quietly for a while. Jamie got into a sack, took out some food, and started eating.  Apparently the sound of wrappers crinkling woke Fluffy up-kind of.  She waved a hand out vaguely and muttered, “Food?”

“She really is a cat.” Clint nudged Natasha, “They can hear a food wrapper in a coma.”

Jamie blinked at her, then pulled out a meal bar and opened it.  She took it back into her blanket nest. Tony was fairly certain she just fell back asleep with it.

Natasha looked at Jamie thoughtfully. “She’s having sex with you?”

Clint just sighed. Tony sputtered, “Nat!”

Jamie looked at them with that blank look for a moment and then suddenly he just looked sad, and maybe hurt. “No. She wants to, but I’m too…” He looked down and curled his metal hand over her arm wrapped on his leg. “I’m too damaged.”

“Physically?” Natasha asked. Tony started to glare at her but she gave him the  “this is my job you idiot” glare and somehow he lost the ability to say anything. 

 _I wonder if it’s all redheads? Or just the ones I know? Or what?  Because Pepper does a good glare of death every now and then, too._    He realized Clint hadn’t said a word.

Jamie looked like he was thinking for a while, then, very uncomfortably, he said, “I panic, and get headaches. She stops.” He traced down her arm with his normal arm. “She isn’t afraid of me, though.”

“She’s still asleep?” Clint asked quietly. Jamie nodded. “She’s a very strange girl, but she seems to be trying to treat you alright.”

Tony nodded, “My offer still stands, though. If you ever think you want out…”

“What out?” Jamie sighed, “I am only ‘out’ because she saved me. She doesn’t hurt me, or wipe me, or even punish me much. I expected to be hurt after attacking…” he frowned, “Loki? And  Carol?”

Tony nodded, “She didn’t?”

Jamie grinned wryly and he looked absolutely normal for a moment. “Nah, she did worse: she lectured me on responsibility; told me she was paying for it; and, as long as I understood what I did wrong and apologized, she’d forgive me– reminded me of my Mom.”

And then he looked like someone hit him with a bat or something and then his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out, sliding down the wall onto the mattress.

All three of them tried to unbuckle and jump, but Fluffy sat up first. “Huh? Jamie?”

Clint started to go to him and Fluffy held a hand up fast. “No sudden moves.”  She pulled Jamie down onto the mattress and shoved him around until she could get a pillow under his head, then she tucked him in with some blankets.

“What happened?” she asked.

“He was talking about you not hurting him, and about apologizing to Loki and Carol? And then he said you reminded him of his mom and… uh… passed out.”

“I remind him of his MOM?” she looked appalled. Tony refrained from pointing out that she tucked him in. “That’s SICK, I want to have SEX with him!”

Tony noticed that the guys up front were watching them in the mirrors. “Fluffy, a lot of guys look for a girl who reminds them of the good things about their mom, it doesn’t mean –“

She wrinkled her nose. “Still sounds weird.” She called up front. “Stop in Delaware.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“He remembered more about his pre-Hydra life, then... That seems to be what gives him the worst headaches.” She frowned, “Well… sometimes. There seem to be memories they REALLY tried to quash.”

Natasha asked thoughtfully, “Does he do this much? If he does, it’s going to be an issue in combat.”

“Nah, mostly he has this kind of issue when he’s talking about non-combat stuff –like memories or sex. I don’t think they tried to damp down any of the combat reactions, so it doesn’t hit then.”

“He said he gets headaches and panic attacks when you try to have sex.” Natasha said sounding very flatly professional, which Tony was beginning to be aware was a tell.

“We haven’t gotten that far.” She shrugged, “He was raped, and beaten or electrocuted for resisting, or trying to be the active partner– ‘cause with his strength they couldn’t keep him from killing someone in bed, you know?”

Tony felt like he’d been knifed. He could see Natasha shutting down even further. Clint twitched and got a grim look.

“So I figure we’re doing pretty well that he can actively feel me up and remember what he’s doing as a kisser, but I sure hope we can get past that soon because DAMN it’s frustrating.”

Natasha just nodded slowly. “Thank you for stopping.”

“Yeah, well, I LIKE Jamie.” She shrugged. “It’s just frustrating.”

Later, Jamie woke up and no one said much of anything else until after the rest stop; then Jamie started talking about what he remembered of the lab and weapons, and they spent the rest of the trip talking tactics.

Fluffy shrugged. “I’m a point-and-shoot cannon in this case. Just remember: if it isn’t EMP shielded, and I go off on it, it’s gone.” She patted a bag, “That’s why I have tranq darts and stuff”

“Are we trying for prisoners?” Natasha asked.

“No,” Jamie said.

“Sorry, Jamie,” Fluffy said, “but yes. It would be good to get at least a few of them to question.”

Jamie looked unhappy, but nodded, “Yes, it would be better.”

They arrived nearby and went over the defenses again. 

Then Jamie smiled. “I can get Fluffy and Tony inside, even in Tony’s suit.”

“How?!” Tony asked incredulously.

“Simple. My handlers would hope I would return if I was able.  The Winter Soldier captured you.  I just drag you out of a van and inside…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies, but my migraines have made it difficult to use a computer. I will hopefully be caught up soon.


	57. UnderCover Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i was hoping to get straight into the lab, but there were important things that needed to be said, and after the month of migraine hell i needed to get back into writing.

“Captured and dragged in by their own Asset?” Clint whistled. “Yeah, that would work.”

Tony was all set to make a sarcastic remark about how he would NOT be able to be captured, when he noticed the GPS signal alert from Jarvis.

“So…” he said, trying to sound casual and getting his repulsor glove ready, “Why does my GPS say we’re nowhere near the location we were heading  to?”

“What?” Natasha frowned, and looked down at her own equipment.

“Oh, yeah, I meant to mention that,” Fluffy said thoughtfully. “Didn’t I?”

“No, Fluffy, you didn’t.” Tony beat down the internal screaming of “Obie” and “betrayal”.

“Well, I kind of thought that Rumlow broke pretty fast, so I asked Jamie what the address really was.  That’s where we are.  I assume the address Rumlow gave you was a trap.  He snarled and swore a lot when Jamie gave me the right one in front of him.” She smiled and patted Jamie’s arm.

Tony stared at her. “THAT was faked?!”

She shrugged, “I’m sure he wanted out, I’m sure he was in pain, and given how detailed the information was, I’m sure the majority of it was the real deal–you know, how many people and security stuff– because it’s tough for most people to invent details that fast– but the ADDRESS was phony.”

Natasha nodded slowly. “It was the first time he was asked a question, and we had no way to verify it…”

“Yeah, so… he broke the deal,” Fluffy said nodding. “So can I have him?”

Natasha said, “Fine.” Clint frowned.

“No,” Tony shook his head.

Fluffy sighed, “Look, Tony, I know you have this horrible issue with the heroing having rubbed off on you, but–“

“I have a bad track record with torture, Fluff.  Execute him, imprison him, or something like that? Sure.  The only reason I stopped putting up a fuss about Jamie is the fact that you’re NOT mistreating him, but… I don’t think you want to play nice with Rumlow, do you?”

“No, I want to break him.”

“No.”

“You’d let BRUCIE do it!” she pouted.

“No, no I wouldn’t. I’d let Bruce kill him.”

“Bruce?” Clint asked thoughtfully. “Right, you were laughing your ass off about that…”

Tony shrugged and went back to talking to Fluffy, “Fluffy, yeah Bruce could shatter him to pieces, and if we NEEDED to for information I could probably manage to overlook it if I had no other choice, but…. We don’t NEED to. Jamie had the information, and anything else I’m sure Emma can get.”

“But Emma is gonna get SITWELL!” she whined.

“She was going to question him–“ Clint started

Fluffy waved him off, “You gotta be kidding? Lifestyle sub Sitwell? He’s gonna take one look at Emma in her thigh-high boots and roll over and beg.”

Tony blinked. “Oh… Yeah, he probably will, I guess… Emma’s a dom?”

Fluffy, Natasha, and Clint all stared at him in disbelief. “Yeah,” Fluffy said.

“How would I know? She’s like the sister I never had!” Tony noticed that the two drivers were staring at him too… _Oh, yeah, they probably were intimidated by her._ “Besides, with her touch phobia, I never thought about her and sex.”

Clint coughed slightly, “Domination doesn’t have to include sex, you know.”

Fluffy huffed. “I already left notes for Emma. She’ll interrogate both of them and I’m betting Sitwell will be HAPPILY and VOLUNTARILY –if you care– on a leash at the next party.”

“Cool, more power to him, or her,” Tony shrugged. “But I’ll go with ‘Let Jamie beat Rumlow to death because he’s an asshole and we don’t need to keep him alive’, but nothing longer than that.”

Fluffy was beginning to look more and more like a small child about to have a tantrum. 

Jamie reached down and tilted her face up. “He’s not worth your time, Doll.”

Clint sighed, “Can we make a final decision about him AFTER we get the report from Emma?”

Tony sighed, “Fine.”

Fluffy blinked. “Fair.” Then she grinned, “But you could help make me feel better about it.”

Clint sighed. “I refuse to even discuss this right now.” He frowned at her, “You are somewhere beyond being a brat.”

“Duh, I’m not exactly a submissive, I’m just REALLY demanding.” She shrugged.

Clint frowned at her, “My usual response to someone being too threatening and demanding is to shoot them, not play with them.”

“Did I threaten you?” Fluffy looked at Tony and then up at Jamie, “Did I threaten him?”

Tony sighed, “No… but can I remind you that Clint has been S.H.I.E.L.D. for a long time?  I suspect he still thinks of threats to fellow agents as being–“

“Oh! Even though he’s Hydra?”

Clint was rubbing his face. “CAN we discuss this LATER?”

Jamie stated, very cautiously, “To make it believable, your suit would be damaged.”

“I can make it look more damaged than it is,” Tony said, relieved at the change in topic.

“Cool, let me put on some make up, then I’ll cry and look like a mess,” Fluffy said happily.

Natasha nodded approvingly at that.  “So we would be preparing to come in once you have distracted them?”

“If you can, yes,” Jamie nodded.

Clint looked thoughtfully at Fluffy, “Can you handle this? Those two are combatants–“

Tony jerked his head up and he could FEEL himself grin at being taken seriously as a combatant by Clint.

“So am I,” Fluffy said calmly, applying a thick layer of eyeshadow and mascara and looking into a makeup palette full of colors that Pepper would never, ever wear. “I’m nowhere NEAR Jamie’s class, but once I joined the Hellfire Club I got access to top level instruction.  While I admit I tend to fall back on my powers, I’m not helpless without them.”

“It would have been better if we could have at least seen you work,” Natasha sighed. “It is difficult to coordinate without that.”

“Well… just remember:  if I get cornered, or hurt, I will either go down in a ball and pretend to sob and cower until people ignore me, or go off like an energy bomb.  As long as I am okay, I can aim… but…” she shrugged. “Look at it this way: my full power blast took out Pierce’s house, and Jamie only pulled through because he’s a mutant.  If things look REALLY bad, retreat, leave me behind, and get the hell out, because everything alive or electronic will go down.”

Tony noted her makeup was uncharacteristically sloppy, probably because she was planning on ruining it. _Jesus, now I’m noticing how the girls do their makeup. The only thing I USED to notice was if their lipstick was going to come off on me._   He frowned in annoyance.

“No,” Jamie said firmly. “You do not know what they would do to you.”

Fluffy smiled up at him. “Pretty Eyes, you’re sweet, and I think you may be a bit too much of a hero for your own good,” Natasha made a choked noise, “but if I order you to get the allies out before I go off? You DO it.” She kissed him. “Because if I cook Tony alive in his suit, I will be sad.”

Tony’s eyes went wide. “Uh, I would be way, way more than SAD!”

Fluffy nodded cheerfully and started sobbing. Tears built up in her eyes and trembled for a moment before tumbling down her face taking streaks of eyeshadow with them.   She tilted her head back and gulped, and her breath sped up.

Jamie reached out worriedly as Tony was frozen in his seat.  Clint swore, “Are you okay? Really?”

Fluffy laughed, even through the tears. She fell sideways onto one of the bags and hugged it like a pillow, sobbing and crying as her make up streaked and trailed in shades of blues and pinks across one side of her face.

“You guys are so CUTE!” Fluffy said in between gasping crying jags. “Jamie, you better be able to be  the big, mean Winter Soldier, because if you suck on your lip like that as you drag me in they are NEVER gonna believe it.”

Jamie muttered in Russian, sounding impressed and a bit embarrassed.

Natasha looked awestricken.

Tony, very shakily, said, “You really can just cry on demand. That’s… incredible.” His heart was pounding and he desperately wanted to punch someone for hurting her, even though he knew better.

“Yup,” She said, sitting up.  She opened her compact and checked. “Cool, makeup all puddled down sideways with only a few streaks straight down, because I OBVIOUSLY spent hours tied in the back of the van on my side.”

Natasha said something impressed sounding in Russian. Clint nodded and Jamie made agreement noises.

“Translation?” Tony asked.

Natasha smiled one of her really cruel smiles, “I was admiring how much damage she can do with such acting skills. I am envious.”

“You do the harmless act very well, Nat,” Clint grinned.

Tony made the final adjustments on his suit. “So we transfer to the mundane van? And Jamie drags us in, right?”

“Right.”

“I do have one last question,” Natasha said after Tony settled in the back of the van in his suit, and Jamie was tying Fluffy’s hands behind her with cord–making certain not to keep her from getting to her knife.

“What?” Tony asked.

“Not for you, Tony, for Fluffy.”

“Sure, what?”

“What brand of mascara did you use? Your eyeshadow is all over the place and your lipstick is a mess, but your mascara didn’t budge!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seriously, a good cry proof mascara? girl needs that.  
> Tony does, yes, have a betrayal twitch. especially under stress.  
> oh and yes, "dragged in by their own asset" is indeed a pun on "dragged in by their asses"


	58. Shall We Dance?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yes, there will be a version of this chapter in Asset Management. soonish  
> TW PTSD, guilt, attempted non con by guards, and violence

When the suit was in standby mode it was a sarcophagus. He had set the displays to flicker and spark, and he had some of the spare parts trailing out of a damaged storage section to look like battle damage. He had one of the leg thrusters half off at an angle–an easy enough fix, but it looked bad– of course, they couldn’t be used inside a lab building, so it didn’t matter.

Fluffy had her hands tied behind her back, looked at least ten years younger than she had to be, and whimpered in a way that made both Tony and Jamie feel horrible. The effect was ruined a bit when she snickered at them and said “Heroes!” under her breath.

The outer layer of guards tried to stop Jamie for security. He flatly told them he had prisoners and was reporting in. Most of them immediately backed off and called his presence in further; one tried to get officious at him and Jamie snapped his neck as if it was nothing.

Tony swallowed hard against a flare of nausea. All of his protestations about not being afraid to kill were great–in the heat of battle. Somehow, watching Jamie snap a man’s neck without changing expression felt different–colder, somehow. Shortly after that Jamie was dragging him by one leg of the suit– metal screeching against the concrete– while he forced Fluffy along with his hand in a tight grip on her arm. She was panting and gasping in a way that sounded believably like a girl who'd run out of tears and was going into certain death.

Tony knew the sound too well: he was smelling sand and heat and fighting to keep calm until he could set the world on fire–he’d never expected THIS to set off flashbacks.

Tony heard Russian: it sounded like the same words Rumlow had said badly, and Sitwell had said well, and Jamie dropped his leg…

“Ready to comply.” _Faked, of course, but they wouldn’t know that._

Tony couldn’t see what was happening without turning his head–not with the heads up displays off and his suit dark– but he heard Fluffy, _and damn that girl was convincing._

“H-help? He- he hurt… oh god, please help….” Fluffy was whimpering as if she’d said those words a thousand times, and no one had answered.

Tony was so deep in memories of praying for help that never came, that he knew he’d missed a lot.

An unknown voice said, “Asset, carry the suit to the table. Is he still alive?”

Jamie picked him up, carrying him almost upright, slung over his shoulder. Tony saw a cowering Fluffy, with several guards that reminded him of Rumlow grinning down at her, distracted away from them by her begging and pleading and cowering in a way that made Tony want to kill them, but apparently only turned them on.

“I do not know.” Jamie’s voice, but without the inflection that was JAMIE–this was Asset.

“Put him here,” some man in a lab coat said, looking like Christmas had come early. Tony felt rage boiling up. _Yet another asshole who wanted his tech…_

“Showtime,” Jamie said quietly–apparently shifting Tony to lever him down onto a table, but actually just setting him on his feet.

Tony pulled the plates back together in his arm and leg and brought the systems up to full.

In the time it took to do that, Jamie had moved–faster than during the fight on the roof– and two men in white coats were down; Tony was fairly certain one of them would live.

Tony had reloaded a few of the weapons systems with electric or concussive options, and he took down several men, then turned as he heard a desperate scream… and a flash of light lit up the corner where Fluffy had been.

Fluffy was standing laughing as a man reeled away from her, his hand gone and his arm charred to the bone. One of the men was already firing at Jamie when it happened, but two of them had been looking at Fluffy, Tony supposed, because they both aimed at her as though Jamie wasn’t even in the room.

Jarvis alerted him to immediate danger and he spun and fired the repulsor. He’d forgotten what fighting mundane opponents was like: they smeared across the walls. Tony stared… _They weren’t even recognizable, just… a mash of red._

By the time he tore his eyes away and looked back, the guards were dead– or down and not moving– and Fluffy was sitting casually on a gurney or medical bed of some kind, calmly telling Jamie to “Leave some life in that one,” as Jamie held a scientist type up by his neck.

They were surrounded by bodies.

For the first time Tony looked at the lab. There was a piece of equipment that looked like some unholy cross between a medical chair and a computer command console. There were things that looked like medical equipment, and things Tony knew were to repair the Arm.

And a lot of bodies.

The heads up displays reported that Natasha and Clint were moving in, and other signatures were falling as they passed.

“Our two are coming in,” Tony said over the suit speaker, not quite daring to lift the visor–the blood was too real, even now.

He saw life signs trying to evade them and told Clint where they were. They detoured briefly before continuing to come in, and two more life signs went dark.

Toy blinked and somehow Clint was standing in front of him.

“Tony? Tony? Are you okay?”

“Wh- when did you get here, Clint?”

“I walked up and tried to talk to you…” Clint frowned, then his voice took on more of that command atmosphere, “Follow me.” He spun on his heel and walked away. “Nat? Coordinate clean up?” he asked, then said several things in Russian.

They ended up in a bathroom, oddly enough: a perfectly ordinary bathroom in a secure facility.

“Tony,” Clint said calmly and steadily, “turn your internal air to cool and whatever passes for high speed. When you feel a bit better, raise the visor”

Tony did. After a few minutes he simply opened the suit and stepped out–well, fell out.

He staggered to the sinks and splashed water on his face.

“First time up close in a non-war situation, isn’t it?” Clint asked.

“Yeah.” Tony was shaking slightly. “Sorry to let you down–guess I’m not that much of a combatant.”

“You’re fine, Tony.” Clint sighed, “Seriously, I’m glad to have the excuse to duck in here.”

“What? why?”

“It’s… It’s a bit too close to what I did… before…” Clint leaned against the wall.

_Oh. Raiding a facility, a lab, some of these people were probably S.H.I.E.L.D… Like the scepter… Like the helicarrier…_

Tony walked over and leaned into him. “If it’s any consolation– and I know it might not be– these were definitely the bad guys.”

There was a loud noise from outside the bathroom, one that Tony immediately identified as expensive equipment being demolished.

“SHIT!” he ran out without thinking. “Stop! I haven’t had a chance to …”

Clint grabbed him and almost threw him back. “Get your suit!”

Tony had to admit he was right, but it stung. He whistled sharply in a sequence and the suit moved and enveloped him. He ran past Clint enjoying his dumbfounded expression.

They entered the room to find a small group of prisoners restrained in a corner, looking terrified; Natasha dragging one of the remaining bodies to a different corner; and Jamie carefully and methodically ripping the big chair thing into pieces, while Fluffy took a video.

“Hi!” Fluffy sang out.

Tony put his face plate up. “I suppose it’s too much to ask that he NOT destroy the tech until I get a chance to study it?”

“It was either destroying that in a controlled fashion or smashing everything, and I figured you wanted the computers,” she said, waving at the untouched computer access.

Tony sighed, “Yeah.” He walked carefully around Jamie– who was very determinedly disassembling that chair, in ways it was never intended to be taken apart– and slotted the attack package in place.

“Jarvis? I got you a new dance partner; let’s take her out on the floor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the non lethal weapons Tony used are the main reason the have prisoners... honestly.


	59. Interruptions

Tony was completely absorbed in hacking through the computer defenses; when he finally looked up, things had changed.

The bodies were gone–although there was enough blood to be certain they had been there– the prisoners were in heavy duty restraints that Tony had never seen before, Natasha was talking quietly to Clint, and Fluffy was  sitting in Jamie’s lap–their foreheads pressed together, talking quietly.

“I’m in, I mean all the way in. and Jarvis is downloading everything,” he said as everyone looked up. “The suit sensors have been recording since we got in, and that means we have a complete schematic of anything mundane in this room. So unless there is something outside of this room we need to scan, were done.”

“Yeah, there is,” Fluffy nodded. “Cryo chamber. Next room over, that way,” she said, waving. “They used to put Jamie in the deep freeze between missions.” She glanced at Jamie. “You stay here and watch the prisoners?” He nodded. Fluffy got up and walked past them into the next room.  Tony noticed that some of them cowered; the rest just looked confused.  He took the suit and followed her.

“Holy shit!” Tony stared at something from science fiction. “That WORKS?”

Natasha, who had followed with Clint looked thoughtful. “No, no not really.”

Flluffy frowned. “Jamie said–“

“Oh, I am certain it works FOR HIM.  But Steve survived frozen in mundane ICE… and Jamie is apparently also a super soldier? With a variation on the formula… I expect anyone normal would simply die.”

Tony nodded, “That makes sense. He survived you, Fluff…”

She nodded. “He gets freaked about this stuff. So… either we map it and move it entire, or you map it and we toast it.  I don’t care, but I don’t think we can leave it here.”

Tony started scanning and blueprinting it with the suit sensors.  Fluffy and Natasha went out.

After a while Clint said, “I think I figured out the OTHER reason behind the new rules from Loki.”

Tony snapped his head up from taking one of the cryo systems apart. “Oh?”

“We’re both having flashbacks, and Loki had to stay home.  I think he knew this would be rough on ME at least…”

“Coming into a S.H.I.EL.D.  base?”  Tony chewed on his lip. “Yeah, he probably couldn’t predict it being this rough on ME– but on you? Yeah.”

“I think he loosened up the restrictions so we could help each other out in case either of us needed it.”  Clint sighed.

Tony blinked… _That… made sense_. “So we could help each other out without breaking the rules… Duh!  That’s obvious…”

Clint nodded, “So the no actual sex, but kissing, hugging/cuddling and all sorts of bondage play–“

“–but no knives, because that’s between us–” Tony nodded.

“–is because he knew this would be rough.” Clint grinned faintly, “Although I am also sure the bastard knew it would boggle us.”

“He IS a trickster god,” Tony nodded, and then grinned, “and you know both of us would do the same thing if we could.”

Clint sighed, “Yeah.”

“Would it help?” Tony asked. “I’m okay for right now, I have a project.” He looked thoughtful, “I don’t think about sex, or food, or sleeping, when I have a project.”

“I’ve noticed that.” Clint nodded, “Maybe? But I can’t relax that much on duty anyway, and we’re still securing the place.  Maybe before we head home… maybe.”

“Sir?” Jarvis interrupted, “You have a phone call on priority level one, W.”

“Go.”

Clint looked attentive as he realized that Tony was taking it on speaker.

“Tony? Sorry I didn’t call before… but it’s over.  We’ve secured the base, and that scepter thing is still there. “ Warren’s voice sounded tired and stressed.

Tony drew in a breath sharply. He looked up at Clint as he answered. “Don’t even try anything: we’ll come there; Thor can take it away right from the base.  ETA two hours or less.” He hung up.

Clint’s eyes had gone wide and he was breathing harder. _Yeah, he’s starting to go into a panic. Finding the scepter on top of raiding a S.H.I.E.L.D. base?_ Tony thought fast _. I don’t have time to talk him down, I need to break him back out now._

Tony walked up, pulled him down and kissed him.  He put everything he had into it, tongue pushing into Clint’s mouth, hand grabbing his hair–pushing him, dominating him– and then Tony melted.

Clint yanked Tony’s hair and when Tony’s mouth opened he bit down on Tony’s lip, hard enough to hurt, but not to cut.  Clint pulled Tony’s arms down _and DAMN he was stronger than he looked._

 _Hadn’t realized I’d developed a strength kink,_ Tony thought _, although I shouldn’t be surprised._

Then suddenly Clint just stopped.  He let go of Tony’s mouth slowly, and pulled his head back.

“Tony?” Clint sounded so confused. “Uh, what happened?”

“What I thought would happen.” Tony nodded, “Although, uh… if this is you on autopilot, I am TOTALLY taking advantage of this if we ever get another chance.”

Clint frowned and slowly released Tony’s arms. “Did I hurt you?”

“Only from the blue balls, Bird Brain.” Tony sighed as he stepped back. “I figured that would interrupt the flashback.”

“What flashback?”

Tony laughed at that one. “Come on, we have to go.” They walked back into the other room. Natasha was cleaning her nails with something that might have been a nail file but was probably a very small knife;  Tony tried not to look.

“Time to go, our schedule just got changed.” Tony nodded at the prisoners, “We need to put them someplace.”

Fluffy shrugged, “That’s why I brought restraints and a spare van.  Send them to the Club and put them on–“ she glanced at Jamie “–hold, Emma can question them if she gets around to it?”

Tony nodded. “We,” he indicated Clint and Natasha, “have to go. I think I’ll call Steve and pick him up too. Just got a call from Feathers… mission accomplished.”

Natasha put the blade away and glanced at Clint.

“Tony has a unique way of snapping a guy out of a flashback,” Clint said drily.

“Details!” Fluffy grinned. “Pictures by preference!”

“We have to go, Fluffy, can you finish up here? I’ll have Jarvis send down a few defensive units to keep anyone out of here.”

She waved him off, “Yeah, I’ll send off the prisoners and babysit the base until the robots show up.  Then Jamie and I have some of our own stuff to do, and we’ll all meet up back in New York… IF I get pictures.”

Tony looked at Clint, who just shrugged and said, “No one but us– and I guess Emma, if she wants– sees this?”

Fluffy crossed her heart. Clint nodded at Tony and then grinned, “I want a copy when we’re done, too; seeing as it’s unlikely to get repeated.”

Tony laughed. “Jarvis? Give the lady the pictures.”

Fluffy’s phone beeped. She looked down and her eyes got almost cartoonishly big. “FUCK that’s hot.  Hey, can I draw this?”

“As long as it’s a real drawing, not that image I guess.”

“This is totally going on ‘An Iron in the Fire’ as fan art.” She got up and started texting. “C’mon Jamie, help me get these guys dragged out to the van.”

“Knock yourself out,” Tony nodded. He waited until they were taking the first load of people to the van and then grabbed Natasha and Clint and headed out. “I already called for a Quinjet. We need to go pick up Steve, if he’s available and head north…”  He waited until they were well clear of any observers, then continued, “… and then I have to tell you something I’ve been hiding from you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony did rather figure being aggressively dominant- at a dominant- and then going passive would trigger a reflex. it did. it also has/had NOTHING to do with being under the scepters influence


	60. Secrets and Misdirection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> my apologies for the short (and late) chapter, but between legal meetings and my husband's surgery i have been a bit out of it.

Loki tested again, now that his shields were up and Anthony was many miles away: yes, his power level was dropping with increasing speed–there was a drastic leak in his seidr. He was almost back down to the power level he had been running on before Anthony managed to heal him, but it didn’t make SENSE. _It couldn’t be this bad without being able to be properly diagnosed._

The only thing he could think of was the connection to the scepter, in which case…

In which case, it was a very good thing he had been developing wards enough to handle it, and fix this problem, without falling under its influence again.

He reached out his senses. _Yes, it was still where it had been…_ He’d always known where it was; he could always tell.

_But…_

His eyes opened wide, blue-green as he looked through the magics to the scepter…

_The guards were gone._

*

Tony didn’t say anything until Steve was in the Quinjet and they were heading north.

“Okay, so… I’ve been hiding some things from you.”

Natasha smiled one of her scary smiles, “I thought you said you wouldn’t do that anymore?”

“I had to keep it from LOKI, and he’d get it from you.”

That shut them all up.

“You’re… hiding something from Loki?” Clint sounded utterly perplexed, and looked at Natasha, who looked blank.

Steve frowned, “I thought everything was good between you two? He’s not being abusive, is he?”

“Oh, good–no! At least, nothing intentional, although we’re both pretty good at hurting people unintentionally.” He looked at the three of them and sighed. “Let me spell this out: first of all, we are so much alike it’s terrifying–that’s a problem, but it also means I can make some REALLY good guesses as to what he’ll do from getting just a few hints on the link.”

They all nodded.

“So when he said that he couldn’t handle the scepter without finding some way to shield himself from the influence, I knew EXACTLY what would happen.” He looked apologetic at Clint. “He was going to try to develop shields to let himself handle the scepter without getting subjected again.”

Clint stared at him. “No…”

“He told you that?” Steve frowned.

Tony laughed, “Oh, HELL no. He’d know I wouldn’t put up with it. He never said any such thing.”

“Then how do you know?”

Tony started ticking points off on his fingers. “He was TORTURED and handed immense power that was a leash. Put yourself in my shoes–just for a minute, think: he’s got massive ego and self-esteem issues, can never measure up, EVER; has an abusive father and an oblivious asshole brother–the fact that Thor loves him only helps a little bit; and there is yet another asshole dangling immense power over his head and saying ‘you can’t have it’.” Tony glared at them all. “What do you think he would do?”

Steve looked blankly at him, but Natasha nodded, “Take it, of course–use it against his tormentors.”

“Right. He’s been shutting me out every chance he gets, and I bet he’s been working on shielding.”

“You want to let him HAVE it?” Clint almost squeaked.

“No. He can’t have it. He can’t make shields against it.”

“He… can’t?” Steve asked slowly.

“He had that inside his head, inside his powers and magic, and he never got any help, not from Asgard and not really from us–although that’s because we don’t know how–then he damaged himself WORSE escaping, remember?”

“Okay, so why can’t he develop shields?”

“He’s never been outside of it. The only time he had ANY contact with the scepter was after he was tortured and then subjected to it. The influence was subtler than what he used it for, but… to build a wall, you need to be outside: otherwise, you just wall yourself in with it.” Tony sighed. _They didn’t get it._

“Try this: it’s already got a pipeline into his defenses–I don’t think he can shut it out.”

“So we’re trying to beat him to it?”

“Hopefully.”

“What if we can’t?”

“He’s not the only one who’s been keeping secrets, like I said. Remember when Emma took me off? After Clint had a panic attack? I came and got her in the conference room after I sent Loki out?”

“We thought you were having Emma bring you out of a panic attack,” Steve said slowly. “I remember.”

Clint looked baffled at Natasha. She nodded slowly.

Tony shook his head. “That’s when I realized what Loki would do–because I would do it. I had Emma put in blocks. I’ve been working on a project, and when Loki’s around I can’t even remember it, or think about it, so he CAN’T pick it up from me.” Tony grinned. “As soon as Loki is off doing something else, I remember and go back in my lab and keep working–when he comes back, I ‘forget’.”

Natasha inhaled sharply. “You let her do what?”

“If Emma wanted to hurt or control me, she wouldn’t need my help, and besides that was after the oath bindings.”

Clint swore. “The oaths! We can’t stop him!”

“Sure we can.” Tony shrugged. “We can’t act to HARM him, but… Look, if you were about to get killed could I shoot you in the leg to make you fall to safety? Even though shooting you in the leg hurts, it’s the only way to save your life: can I do it?”

Clint blinked. “Yes? I think so?”

“If the intent is truly to help to do what is needed to SAVE him, with no intent to harm him, then the oaths never apply,” Tony winced, “although, given the soul bond, even if it never touched the oaths, I’m going to hurt.”

Natasha was the one to ask, “So what have you been doing?”

“Developing a weapon able to take down Loki, and the scepter, without killing him–I hope.”


	61. Blue On Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the Arc reactor was based on the Tesseract

Tony gave the three of them the emergency codes that Emma had put in place, then called Jane Foster when they were part of the way to the scepter. “Jane, I need you to get Thor, and get somewhere private so I can talk to JUST you two on the phone.” _At least Jane knew you never handed the Electric God a cell phone: she put it on speaker._

“Yes, Man of–”

“Hey, Point Break! Urgent matter… I need you to get up to the place that was holding the scepter: our friends succeeded.”

“Excellent! I will tell everyone!”

Tony rubbed his forehead, “No, Thor, I need you to NOT tell anyone–especially not Loki.”

Jane’s voice sounded confused, “I thought you trusted him?”

“With my life,” Tony nodded, even if they couldn’t see it, “but the scepter had him under control, and he thinks he can handle it… I’d rather get it off the planet without him finding out.”

“Should he not have the opportunity to test himself against it?” Thor asked and Tony could picture the furrowed brow.

“Thor? I wish I could let him, but this is just too big a risk. You come up here, we pack it off, and you let me deal with Loki being upset, okay?”

“Very well…” Thor said dubiously.

“Trust me on this one, and Jane can back you up that I insisted, if he gets upset.”

“It shall be done,” Thor sighed. “Shall I take the other Quinjet?”

“Probably better than trying to explain where it is–I’ll have Jarvis pilot you up.”

*

Loki had a headache. He felt like something was at the edge of his mind, and he couldn’t quite think of it.  He told Jarvis he would be meditating and sat down cross legged in his room. He followed the thought…

_He really shouldn’t let anyone else get the scepter._

He cast his perceptions around the tower, watching Darcy make one of her overly-sweetened coffee substances, and Banner meditating in his lab. Thor was making his farewells to Jane, overwrought and excessive as they…

_Wait…_

_Farewells?_

_Quinjet, scepter, leaving…_

_“They will take the scepter from you. Did you not pay for it in blood?”_

Loki left an image of himself in the room, and slipped invisibly after Thor to the Quinjet.

*

Tony was relieved to see the X-Men were staying outside the facility doors–at least, he assumed they were: the ones he could see were. He recognized Warren, Logan, and Scott–even in costume–but there were three new men and they stood out, one more than the others: he had blue fur.

“Just waiting on one more,” Tony said, keeping his visor open as he walked up. “I haven’t met everyone. Hi, I’m Tony Stark.”

“Bobby,” said the youngest looking of the new three.

The man with blue fur grinned at him. “Hank McCoy, it’s an honor.”

Tony glanced to the side as Jarvis filled in the information on the side screen of his helmet. “Wait… Dr. Henry McCoy? Bio researcher?”

“You’ve heard of me?” He looked inordinately pleased.

“Some of my medical people like your research, and Bruce read one of your papers at me.”

“Bruce?”

“Banner,” Tony smiled, and then sighed. “He’ll be sad to miss this, but we came straight here from someplace else.”

“Call me Gambit,” the good looking man with the Cajun accent said, clearly looking right past Tony at Natasha, “delighted to meet you all.”

Tony shook his head– _he’d learn eventually._ “Captain America–Steve–and, of course, Hawkeye and Black Widow.”

Clint was staring at Dr. McCoy. Tony frowned. _It seemed rude._

“Um, pardon me,” Clint asked, Dr. McCoy, “but… have you ever met a good-looking young lady with white hair? Wears cat ears a lot?” Tony saw Warren snap his head up.

“You think he’s met Fluffy?” Tony asked in confusion. “I thought only Logan–and Warren–had met Fluffy?”

“I think he looks an awful lot like a character in one of her fan fictions, except that guy is green…”

Dr. McCoy frowned, “I ran into a college kid with white hair, cat ears, My Little Pony shirt–”

“That’s her!” Tony, Steve, and Clint said in chorus with Warren.

“I don’t get it?” he asked. At that point, Thor’s Quinjet landed.

“And there’s our fifth,” Tony nodded as Thor bounded out of the Quinjet.

“Well met! Are these then the heroes I was told of?” Thor was beaming at them; it was a bit intimidating.

Tony felt oddly… off… suddenly. Like something disoriented him. “Hey… is the scepter contained? Because I just felt a bit…”

Jarvis’ vice suddenly spoke over the suit speakers, “Sir? Your brain waves are registering unusual activity as per your orders I am activating protocol nine.”

The suit closed, and the blue glow of the secondary arc reactor lit up the group.

Tony blinked. “What happened?”

Jarvis kept talking from the Quinjet speakers, “You were slipping into what seemed to be an enhanced theta wave activity state with hemispheric beta wave asymmetry. I activated the suit shields and the secondary Arc reactor.”

“Good job, Jarvis. Guys? We have a problem… put in layman terms, something just tried to take over my mind.”

“Scepter,” Clint said firmly, “but why you and not me?”

A familiar voice, using all the wrong intonations, spoke from the door to the bunker, “The connection between my agent and this human should have been sufficient to extend control; however, it is merely a temporary setback.” Loki was standing in the doorway, holding the scepter. His eyes were bright blue.

Bobby turned into a creature of ice and ice flew from his hands over to Loki. Loki turned blue–but his eyes were bluer–and moved toward him with the scepter. In the next instant everyone was moving, attacks, counter attacks… Thor’s hammer, lightning….

And Tony could feel a calm blue certainty creeping up on him, welcoming him, pulling him under…

Steve snapped out, “Augustin-Jean Fresnel!” as he blocked the scepter with his shield.

Somewhere deep in his mind Tony heard the Emergency codes and activated the Interference Project without thinking.

There was a flash of brilliant blue… and yellow…

And then nothing.

*

Tony’s mind cleared and he tried to gasp for air. The pain was distant but intense somehow. A blue man was looking down at him as Natasha activated the suit releases.

“Oh…” Tony said weakly, “yeah…. dimensional flattening effect… the Arc … is off… the scepter?”

“It vanished.” Natasha’s eyes were very wide. “Loki’s unconscious, everyone else is stunned but okay…”

“Didn’t… expect… to be at… Ground Zero…” Tony’s eyes closed. “Every dimensional… energy source… flattened.”

_Like an Electro Magnetic Pulse, for magic… and Scepters… and apparently Arc rectors…_

Everything stopped.


	62. Frozen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes there were issues, but the important part is, it worked.... Tony's motto

Loki had slipped past the group as they introduced Thor. He would get the scepter, hide it and leave a replacement–that would give him plenty of time to study it properly …

He blinked and it was in front of him.

He had his hand on it.

Everything was exactly as it should be. He felt tendrils of control winding themselves around his heart and mind, felt the Other touching the link and pulling, calling his partner to join him… Together they would be unstoppable…

He was supposed to have brought him in the last time, anyway; now they would be together.

In a locked away portion of his mind, behind the wards that he had foolishly thought would be sufficient, Loki started screaming.

The wash of control down the bond was shut off behind a wall of dazzling blue.

Someone was speaking through him; they wouldn’t give him even that much control, to speak for himself. He had been permitted some freedom last time, after all, and caused no end of trouble. He was content to be a tool for Thanos’ plans.

Loki felt Anthony’s tie to him turning, twisting and corrupting the bond into enslaving him as well… the blazing blue wall flickering, fading…

There was battle; this body was injured, but it didn’t matter, he couldn’t feel it anyway. His opponents knew enough to stay clear of the scepter’s reach, it was frustrating, but he had only to keep them busy–once Anthony was here as well, it would be over.

And then there was a sickening lurch, and for a brief moment he was free, and the control was gone…

And then, with a sensation that was intensely painful in some way he couldn’t describe, the world simply ceased to exist.

*

_Someone was tearing out the Arc reactor? No, trying to put one in? HOLY FUCK THAT HURT! PAINSTOPNOSTRUGGLEpainstophurt black_

~

Loki was frozen, he was a block of ice–it was terrifying, but at least he was alone in his mind.

~

Tony really hated that beeping noise.

~

Loki distantly heard a beeping noise.

~

“Is there any way to get them touching?”

~

 _Anthony?_ Anthony was here in his mind… _No… No… They can’t destroy him, too…_

~

_Cold._

~

_No, not Anthony, not Anthony, notanthony…_

~

_Loki?_

~

_I never wanted to destroy you… I’m sorry…_

~

_Loki, you’re okay, I’m okay… I think…_

~

_The scepter… it was a trap…_

_Yeah, I know._

_You know?_

_You can’t defend yourself from something that’s inside your defenses… Oh… Shit… That’s how it got me? The Bond?_

_Yes… Wait, what did you do? You did something…_

_Uh… built something that interfered with the dimensional signature of the scepter, the tesseract, magic… apparently my Arc reactor… I set it off. Unfortunately, we were both in the blast radius. Bet the scepter connection’s gone, though!_

_That was idiotic._

_It worked._

_It was still idiotic._

_It still worked._

_…point. How did you hide it from me?_

_Emma… a sensation of smugness…_

_How did you know what I was trying?_

_I would have done it…_

_We are too much alike, elskan mín hækkaði ._

_True. Are we dead?_

_I don’t think so._

_Okay._

_…_

_Hey, can I ask you a question?_

_Yes?_

_Waaaaay back when, you thought Tony was a stupid nickname._

_It is a child’s name… If I had known you better, I would have known why it suited you._

_Watch it, Maleficent._

_Go on._

_You then asked me why Anthony, not Antony... and snickered a lot…_

_Oh? OH! Oh, yes. What of it?_

_Why?!_

_Because Anthony is closer in meaning to flower… from Anthos… my darling Rose…_

Tony tried very hard to bang his head into something.

~

“IS he having a seizure?”

“No, I think he may be waking up.”

“Should we call anyone?”

“Maybe a telepath? But Professor Xavier can’t get here anytime soon, and he can’t see into the building.”

“We could call Emma…” _That was Bruce’s voice._

“It doesn’t normally occur to me to call the White Queen of the Hellfire Club to HELP, you know?”

~

_Loki?_

_Yes?_

_I think… I think we’re in a hospital? Or the medical in my tower? Or it could be S.H.I.E.L.D.…_

_I hope it’s not S.H.I.E.L.D._

_I hope it’s not a hospital… so… uh… We’re back in that deep Bond link, huh? How do we …?_

_Get back up? No idea._

~

“There has to be something we can do!” _Clint’s voice: he sounded rough._

“Well, I can’t say anything about Loki, but Tony’s vitals are improving steadily and Jarvis thinks his brainwaves look good–I say we wait.”

~

_Tower then._

_Good. My Hawk sounds awful, though…_

_He had issues on the mission in Washington, and then… Lo, your eyes were BLUE, I mean like almost glowing._

_They weren’t taking any chances this time. It’s odd, I can tell the difference–now–the scepter link is gone, not just dormant._

_Told you it worked._ Tony quite smug about it.

_You almost killed yourself!_

_Almost! The key word is ALMOST!!_

~

“And it still worked…” Tony mumbled.

“Tony?” Steve squeezed his other hand, the one that wasn’t half frozen to Loki.

“Tower?”

“Yes. Oh, thank God…” Steve said quietly. “I’ll call Hank.”

“Hank?”

“Doctor McCoy? Strange looking fellow who came back with you who is actually pretty nice guy once you get past the blue fur…” Steve trailed off.

“I need an Arc reactor.”

“It’s in you, we replaced it once we got–”

“Jarvis, need spare Arc reactor.” For some reason it was REALLY hard to open his eyes, but he finally managed–then he regretted it, it was bright.

“Sir…” _Jarvis’ voice sounded like he was really relieved._ “We do not have any more spare Arc reactors. I have to insist you not leave the tower until you build several more.”

“Spare reactor doesn’t need to fit me…”

“In that case I could scavenge one from the heavy suit construction.”

“Do it.”

Tony closed his eyes. He distantly heard… _Bruce and Hank?_ …and some others talking.

*

“Jarvis said to give you an Arc rector?” Bruce asked him. He was doing the “I am so casual” voice–badly.

“Yeah,” Tony managed to say. “Hey Brucie-Bear…”

“Oh, thank God.”

“People keep saying that, how about Thank Tesla?”

Tony heard Natasha laugh, “See, Pepper? He’s fine...”

“Put the Arc reactor in my hand with Loki.”

“Can someone get Bobby to break the ice enough to do that?” Clint asked.

“Hang on.”

*

He lost contact with Loki.

There was power under his hand.

Loki was on the other side of it.

_Hey, Lokes? You there?_

_Hmmm? Yes?_

“Power up.”

 

*

“In retrospect, I should have told you all to go out of the room and behind the blast shields first, but in my defense I wasn’t thinking well. Still… it did work… and everyone was able to be fixed up…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear you find out more once these two are able to debrief properly with the others...


	63. It’s been…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yes i used the bare naked ladies song as a title prompt, sue me.  
> my apologies for the late update,, we are prepping for snow.

“We’ve been unconscious for HOW long?” Tony was sitting up in the med bed, having successfully passed a physical by Hank McCoy just minutes before. Poor blue guy was still scratching his head over Loki.

“Almost four days.” Natasha said with the bored tone that was her version of intense interest. 

“I guess he’s okay?” Doctor McCoy shrugged. “I mean, for someone whose body temperature registers as an ice cube.”

“Hey!” a younger guy protested from the door. _Right, he’d been at the base with the other X-Men._

“Lokes, can you shift yet?”

“I probably can,” _Loki sounded a bit off,_ “but I would prefer to know if anyone was harmed.”

Tony sighed, “From what I saw before I passed out? My weapon probably did more damage than you did, but I could be wrong.” He slipped off the bed and tried to walk over, only to wobble and get caught by Natasha.

“You may have been healed, but you were still lying down for more than three days.” She arched an eyebrow at him and helped him to Loki’s bed. The beds had been moved apart once they were awake so they could get better checkups, but the downside was it was out of arm’s reach. Tony took Loki’s hand.

Bruce smirked from the doorway, “Anyone else would get frostbite, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.” Tony smiled tiredly at him.

_Babe?_

_I nearly killed us all, or worse._

_You weren’t in your right mind, Lo._

_I was in my right mind enough to try to create wards and get hold of it._

“No, you really weren’t, Lo,” Tony switched to speaking out loud. “You were being influenced by that thing. YES, it was subtle, and YES, you could have not done that, but I was talking to the Avengers on route up and it kind of plays into what either of us would have done–”

“I nearly got you enslaved by–“

“NEARLY! What have I said about that? NEARLY!!!!” Tony shouted and shook Loki–or tried to; he was heavy–by the shoulders. “The point is that you were controlled, my plan worked, and that damned thing is…” Tony blinked. “It is gone, right?”

“Various bits of it shattered, the light inside turned yellow and went out,” Clint reported, standing at what looked like parade rest by the door–his voice sounded rough–“and it took us a bit to realize Thor had to carry it out of the area of effect,” he nodded at Tony, “before he could call for a pick up and leave. He’s not back from Asgard yet.”

“My Hawk, I cannot apologize enough”

“No, you can’t,” Clint sighed, “but I appreciate the attempt. I’m very glad you’re both alright. Now, can you stop being blue? It looks weird.”

“It is my native form, apparently, no matter how much I might wish otherwise.” Green energy flickered over him and it was the familiar pale-skinned and green-eyed Loki again.

“You look good either way,” Tony nodded.

“You said I looked like a smurf,” Loki snorted.

“I was upset then. You look more like Avatar or something.”

“He totally does not look like a smurf,” Clint said firmly. “You don’t look BAD that way, Sir, just odd.”

“His vital signs completely changed…” McCoy muttered as he stared at the readings. “So that’s not an illusion?”

“No,” Tony and Loki started together and then spent a few awkward moments sorting out who should answer.

“No,” Loki finally said, “I have shapeshifting talent. That talent was used by Odin to create my Aesir form­–this–as a child. I am quite familiar with it: hence, it is something of my primary form,” he sighed and lay back, “or so I would have said. The fact that I revert to Jotuun in the absence of sufficient magic makes that a lie.”

Oddly, it was Darcy who spoke up, “Your ‘real form’, or primary one, or whatever, is the one you feel most comfortable in. It’s the one you look in the mirror and say ‘that’s me’.” She was carrying a tray full of what Tony dearly hoped was coffee.

“Lady Darcy,” Loki nodded. “My Anthony is lusting after your coffee.”

Tony rolled his eyes. Darcy grinned, “Only after my coffee? Damn, some playboy.”

“Your rack is impressive, Darcy–I already told Loki you could turn a gay guy straight with that rack–but coffee is still sexier.”

Clint snorted, but he was grinning, “Tony, you just proved you are SO not gay.”

“Never said I was, Bird-brain.” Tony made grabby hands at the coffee and was passed a cup. “Blessed nectar of the gods!” he said reverently into it.

Loki looked amused, “No, that would be tea: I dislike coffee.”

Darcy nodded at him, “I remembered.” She handed him a cup of what looked far too pale to be coffee.

“Tea?” Tony clutched his chest in mock horror. “In MY building? For shaaaame.”

At least everyone laughed; some of the tension seemed to be dissipating.

“So what happened?” Loki was more staring down into his tea than drinking it.

Tony took his hand. _It’s okay, really_. “Yeah, last thing I remember was my Arc reactor failing.”

“What?!” Loki’s hand grabbed onto his with dangerous strength and then immediately let go. “Are you hurt? Did I break–”

“I’m just bruised, Lo.” Tony took his hand again. “Nothing the bond won’t fix in a moment.” He sighed, “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to have to use it at all, but, if I did, I wasn’t expecting it to be with me in the area of effect.”

“When you didn’t move, or react, during the fight I used the code you told us.” Steve spoke up from the doorway. _Wow, there was a crowd._

“Good job too, spangles!” Tony waved everyone in. “So who’s here?”

“Everyone but Wolverine–Logan–and Scott, of our crowd,” Warren said coming in. He had his wings out showing, so he must be okay with everyone.

“Everyone on the Avengers that was there, except Thor, and the people who were here, like Jane and Darcy, are still here,” Steve nodded. “Pepper and Carol came by to make sure you were alright and then had to go back to work.” Steve paused, “Dani… came by…”

Tony started choking into his coffee. “Oh, that must have been a trip. I’m sorry I missed it.”

“He flirted outrageously with everyone, made lewd comments about my wings, and told us to call when you two woke up.” Warren sounded a bit awed.

“And no one broke? I’m amazed,” Tony chuckled.

Bruce smirked, “Make Jarvis show you the recordings. Oh, and Fluffy called: she said she’d call back.”

Loki asked worriedly, “IS everyone alright? I was not myself, but my combat skills were–”

Clint nodded, “No major harm done.” He hesitated. “It was pretty intense, though. Your eyes were glowing blue, not just blue.”

“They were not giving me leeway to fight them, this time,” he said quietly.

“So, if my Arc reactor was down, and I know there wasn’t a spare, how did I make it back?”

Steve looked around and seemed to realize everyone was waiting for him. “Gambit actually came up with the solution. We wired Widow’s ‘bites’ to provide enough current to keep you stable-ish for the ride home.”

Toy blinked a lot, and then shrugged, “Beats a car battery.” He looked around. “Where is he?”

Darcy spoke up, “He seems really isolated; he didn’t want to come in.”

Loki nodded firmly, “Then we shall go to him, I owe him a great debt.”

“We. WE owe him. That was fast thinking.” Tony helped Loki up. “Why is he isolated?” He looked at Warren, “What’s up?”

“He’s new,” Warren sighed, “and he has a bad background, so a lot of folks don’t know what to make of him.”

Natasha frowned, “If that’s the case, why send him on this mission?”

“The Professor said we needed his skills, and it would be a good chance for him to prove himself.” Warren nodded, “We did, and he did, although I’m not sure Scott is ever going to trust him.”

Tony and Loki managed to stagger into the penthouse. Gambit was sprawled on the sofa– _looking indecently good, dammit_ –throwing playing cards into a small bowl on the table.

“Bonjour, mes ami,” he drawled. “Finally amongst the living, eh?”

Tony nodded, “Yes, and thank you. That was a really good solution.”

Gambit looked startled at him. “I’m sure you would have thought of better.”

_Damn, Lo, someone kicked this boy around but good._

_Indeed; he sounds like us._

Loki nodded at him, “The fact that the brilliant engineer–who invents things most mortals cannot even dream of–could have come up with better does not minimize your accomplishments.”

Tony grinned, “Otherwise known as ‘Sure, I could have done better–I’m a genius engineer–but I was dying and you saved my life’, so stop putting yourself down.”

“As I said…” Loki smirked.

A faint hint of a smile flickered across the corner of Gambit’s mouth and was gone, “You all done trying to kill everyone?”

“Yes.” Loki felt pained on the link. “I wish I could say I was manipulated the entire time, but I honestly think it was my own very bad idea, right up until perhaps that morning…”

Steve cleared his throat. “So, some questions came up, and since everyone else is avoiding asking…”

Tony nodded, “Better to get it over with. Go.”

“The hospitality bindings–”

Tony stared, “Oh shit! Yeah, we gotta sign on all the new folks!”

Steve sighed, “Before that. We thought those bindings would prevent any of us from attacking the rest of us, other than, as Tony explained, for our own good–like doing minor damage to prevent lethal harm.”

“Yes,” Loki nodded.

“So did you get around it because you were controlled? Because it wasn’t your idea?”

“No,” Loki sighed, “I didn’t get around it at all. If I had killed any of you I would have very likely died. Unfortunately, the scepter’s effects are more complex than merely killing someone, and I would likely have merely been mentally damaged,” Loki shrugged, “which would not have mattered to the scepter’s master one bit.”

A lot of people looked like that was settling some issues. Phil–who, as usual, appeared to have simply materialized somehow in the room–said, “That makes sense. The Big Bad wouldn’t care if you were hurt as long as he got his connection back. Having all the Avengers would be worth it, anyway.”

Clint looked around, “Well, these two haven’t had solid food since the fight. I suggest ordering in noodle soup.”

Natasha perked up, since Pho was one of her favorites; several others enthusiastically agreed. Loki got the bindings set up while they ordered, and Clint managed to get him to eat a meal bar until food could arrive.

Tony sat down on the sofa next to Gambit.

“So, what’s the horrible background that makes people not trust you?”

“You surely don’t hesitate, do you?”

“Nope,” Tony grinned. “No tact, either.”

“Among other things, I was a professional thief.”

“That’s it?”

“I killed a few people–intentionally,” he said, watching Tony like he expected a bad reaction.

Tony shrugged. “Weird problem to have with you.”

He stared at Tony, “Doesn’t that bother you?”

Tony looked over at the Avengers and X-men, “Hey, can the professional thieves, killers, and spies please raise their hands?”

Clint waved. Natasha tossed a knife in the air and caught it. Coulson looked thoughtful and raised a hand politely.

“Could the people who have killed in combat, knowingly and intentionally, raise their hands?” Tony raised his; most of the Avengers raised theirs–all of them, in fact.

“Apparently, Gambit here thinks we won’t like him because he was a professional thief and killed some people.” Tony shook his head, “Like I wasn’t called the merchant of death or anything.”

The X-Men contingent looked a bit stunned. Bobby fidgeted, “It was a pretty nasty group of people, and a lot of folks didn’t know how to deal with it.”

 “Yeah, and Warren’s family has membership in the Hellfire Club, which means they have drinks with people who hire nasty groups of people, at least.” Tony snorted. Warren just looked a bit embarrassed.

McCoy looked a bit uncomfortable, “I don’t think it’s everyone but yes, some people have issues with anyone who was actively a villain.”

Loki laughed, “Well, let’s see, that’s at least a few of us in the room, and of course the Lady Fluffy who keeps reminding you all that she isn’t a hero NOW, either.”

Tony stuck his hand out at Gambit, “Welcome to the ‘I’m mostly reformed’ home for wayward villains, would be world conquerors, and bad ass assassins–we also let in the occasional hero to give the place a better rep.”

Gambit actually smiled at him, and Tony was glad Loki was right there because DAMN the man had charm, “Well, in that case, call me Remy. I’m afraid I’m not in those leagues: you think you can let me in?”

“Eh, we let in Bruce and Steve, and Darcy only tased a God and does creative accounting and we let her in.”

“No way, dude,” Darcy shook her head. “I’m evil incarnate–poli-sci major, remember? Also I’m holding the coffee hostage.”

Remy smiled at Darcy and the girl almost dropped her coffee cup, “I can’t possibly compete with that Mon Cheri: I’m not evil enough to hold the coffee hostage.”

Clint nodded, “It’s okay, not everyone is cut out for those levels of evil, just her and Bruce.”

Warren smirked at Tony, “So, obviously, the entire lot of them can get referred as prospective members to the Hellfire Club.”

Steve just sighed. “Which reminds me: after you get something to eat, PLEASE call Fluffy–she’s called several times; I think she’s worried.”

“Was anything wrong?” Tony asked.

Loki frowned, “She got home safely?”

Bruce nodded, “She was emphatic that they were safe–although they took a lot of precautions getting back to avoid trouble so she was delayed–but that she needed to talk to us–and you, in specific–as soon as you were up to it.”

Tony shrugged, “Okay. Order extra food, get everyone on the bindings, and then I’ll call Fluffy. If I know her, she’ll arrive just in time for dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are my life, and remember to read Asset management to know why Fluffy is calling


	64. Loss of Appetite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 Fluffy arrives late for food.

They went back to awkward conversations and introductions until the food showed up. Pepper showed up long enough to scold Anthony for “taking ridiculously risky chances” while hugging him. Much to Loki’s shock, she gave him a brief hug as well before running off with a container of soup to a video conference.

“That was… unexpected.”

Barton spoke up, “Well, I think the video of your eyes glowing blue probably helped convince a lot of people you weren’t in your right mind.” He paused and then added, “You muttered a lot after we got you back here and touching Tony, too.”

Loki winced, “Oh?”

Banner nodded, “Mostly nonsense; however, some of it made it clear you were trying to fight off the effects, wanting Tony to run away–I believe Jarvis said you called him a ‘beloved idiot’–and so on.”

Anthony looked up from unpacking food, “If we need more nicknames, I vote ‘No’ on that one.”

“Better than just ‘idiot’.”

“That was in an old Doctor Who episode, you know,” Darcy chimed up. When no one knew about it she proceeded to explain in detail about a fourth doctor, a priestess sect with a sacred flame, and how he got called “idiot” for most of the show. Loki was baffled–and he could tell many of the others were, as well–but she was charmingly enthused about it. Coulson seemed familiar with it.

“Miss Morgan has arrived,” Jarvis announced.

Anthony looked at the remains of the food, “Is she sick? She almost missed dinner. Send her up.”

“Traffic problems?” Bobby–Loki didn’t know his last name, and refused to call him Iceman–asked.

“Fluffy is obsessed with food.” His Spider nodded at the table, “I think she must have gone hungry as a child.”

“That will do it,” Gambit nodded slowly from the sofa. He’d taken a bowl of soup and retreated back to it, although he was apparently more comfortable thanks to Anthony’s acceptance.

The elevator doors opened and Fluffy walked in. She was understandably taken aback by the crowd of new people. “Uh… Hi?”

“Fluff? Mi Casa Es Su Casa–pull up a chair and a pair of chopsticks.” Anthony waved with a pair of chopsticks full of noodles.

Banner smiled at her, “I saved you a container.”

She brightened up. “I knew I liked you best!”

“Where’s your… Uh, Jamie?” Rogers asked.

“Oh, wow, uh... You’re here? I thought you were in Washington?” Fluffy looked highly uncomfortable, which was odd since she had been happy enough to climb on him last time.

“Came up for the whole ‘retrieve the scepter’ fight.” Rogers waved at the X-Men.

“Oh.” She seemed uncharacteristically subdued, and Loki began to worry.

“He wasn’t injured, I trust?” Loki asked.

She walked over and hugged Banner, and got her food set up. “No, he just remembered a lot more. It’s… not good. He’s back at the Club pretty much having a breakdown.”

“More things Hydra did to him?”

“Among other stuff.” _She was evading._ “So, who are these guys? I don’t know all of them–at least out of costume.”

Warren introduced the new people, “Hank McCoy–Beast–isn’t usually with us in the field: he’s a scientist and our doctor. Bobby–Iceman–“

“OH! Yeah, you do the whole ice created skateboard park/roller coaster thing? Yeah, I slid down one of those before it melted! That’s cool!”

“Uh, thanks?” Bobby hesitated. “You are?”

“Fluffy, Hellfire Club assassin,” she waved. “And the guy doing the mysterious long-coat routine on the couch is…?”

Gambit stood up politely. “Remy LeBeau.” He bowed slightly. “Have we met, {my dear}? You look very familiar?”

“I’m pretty sure I’d remember you unless your costume has a full mask and it fits badly.” She shook her head.

“I have only rarely fought alongside them and this is–so to speak–my costume.”

“Then nope–also, your accent is to die for.” She nodded, “I’d remember you.”

“Fluffy is one of the unreformed assassins, supposedly, we let in to balance out Captain America,” Tony said solemnly, and then grinned, “Although she’s a nice girl as long as you don’t mess with her food.”

Fluffy laughed, “Lies! Falsehood! Slander!” She poked Banner. “Tell them: I’m a mean, vicious, cruel–”

Banner laughed, and hugged her, “Sorry, you’re only mean and vicious to people who deserve it. I’ve watched you with Jamie: you’re very concerned and you take good care of him. I’m sorry he’s not doing well–can we help?”

She mock pouted, “Drat, hanging with heroes–I’m gonna get a good reputation or something.”

Gambit gasped and looked stunned, “{Gods no, it can’t be?}” Most people looked over, and he continued, in a far gentler voice, “I think I’ve seen you–or your picture–when there was a bit of a scuffle between the guilds in New Orleans. My guild took down another guild several years ago that was engaged in some less savory business.” He bowed much more deeply at her. “If you need any assistance, please let me know; I may know a few people you… worked with.”

Fluffy stared at him and her face went hard. “Then shut up.” He nodded. He was looking at her with an expression that Loki might have interpreted as sympathy.

Tony looked back and forth, “Yeah, well, Remy here seems to think a little stealing and killing people might kick him out of our club or something.”

Fluffy put her usual expression back on and laughed, “That must be because he’s hanging around with the mutant terrorists,” she gave an exaggerated wink toward the X-Men, Warren especially, “as opposed to the honorable and respectable and publicly we haven’t done anything and our lawyers can prove it, Hellfire Cub.”

“Are you alright, Fluffy?” Rogers asked, “It… Is it just your friend being sick? Or..?”

“Great.” She sighed, “Okay, some of this can be public, I guess, as long as everyone’s under bindings. Some of it I need to talk to individuals first, okay?”

She waited until everyone nodded. “So you know Hydra brainwashed him, and that’s understating it. He got his brain scrambled so bad that Emma couldn’t do much other than replace the control phrases and hope he recovered.”

Everyone nodded. She looked at Barton, “Look, are they all clear on the idea that you didn’t choose to kill people when you–“

“It was not his fault,” Loki said immediately.

She looked at Tony, “You clear on that?”

“Me? Yeah. Loki got himself put under in the last fight and it almost got me, too! You can’t hold anyone accountable for something they did under mind control.”

“Jamie remembers a lot more of what they had him DO, and he feels guilty about it. I’ve tried to tell him it’s not his fault, but…”

Barton nodded, “It took me a while.”

Romanov, spoke up, “Even if the control is not as severe, he would certainly have diminished responsibility.”

“He didn’t even remember his old name, his friends, his family… I don’t think he’s accountable, but he does.” Fluffy sighed. “What they had him do was stuff he wouldn’t have done, before they got him. I’m afraid I was right: he’s a hero under all that.” She stabbed her chopsticks into the container moodily.

“Something wrong with being a hero?” McCoy asked.

“No, I mean you guys have your place and shit, and you’re useful, but it means he’s busy angsting and talking about how he should be shot for what he did and how no one will ever want to deal with him and crap.”

Gambit had a very quirked look on his face, “You rescued him?”

“He didn’t die when I killed Pierce, so I brought him home and fed him. Anyway, he has pretty eyes.”

“Pierce? Uh, assassinated in DC?”

“Actually one of the secret bigwigs in Hydra.” Anthony sighed, “Yeah, she killed him. Jamie was a Hydra assassin; he was supposed to kill Fury.”

“And Captain America, and probably the rest of you.” Fluffy shrugged. She looked at Rogers, “He remembers you, from the war. Yeah, he’s actually old: they kept him in the freezer between missions. He remembers you because he used to be an American soldier and he kind of broke down when he realized that the ‘Captain America’ he was supposed to kill was the same guy he remembers from being American.”

Rogers looked stunned–so did most other people. Anthony nodded, “So, we were right? The Arm is original to him? He’s from World War Two?”

“Yeah, but they woke him up lots in between, usually to go kill people. So he has a lot of kills and now he’s remembering them.” She shook her head, “He’s convinced everyone will blame him and hate him.”

Loki looked around the room, “Probably because he blames himself and hates himself.”

“Like I said, Hero.” She sighed, “I’m worried he’s going to try to kill himself, actually. I wouldn’t have left him alone, but if I brought him with me it would be a mess.”

“Why?”

“Because some of what he remembers goes directly to American history, and you guys.”

“Like remembering who I am?” Rogers asked her gently.

“Yeah… Oh, hey, was there REALLY a Tijuana Bible of you and a Nazi girl? He mentioned it when I brought up fan fiction.”

Rogers turned a blotchy red and his eyes went comically wide. “Oh, uh…”

“Really?” Fluffy giggled.

Coulson spoke up suddenly, “There was, supposedly. There were a number of Tijuana Bibles featuring Captain America: they’re worth a small fortune today, of course, since they were printed on cheap paper they didn’t last long. That one is more rumor than proven.” Coulson cocked his head at Rogers, “It existed?”

He was actually stuttering. “Y-yes, it was, um… Remember how I said this bondage stuff wasn’t new?” He had everyone’s undivided attention. “That one started with me, uh, Captain America being captured and, um, tied up and stuff… by ‘Ilse’ and then escaping and… Anyway, he ends up bringing her home on a leash,” he finished up very fast.

Anthony was grinning, “Seriously?”

Rogers nodded.

“This was… popular?” Barton asked him.

“I think every member of the Howling Commandos had a copy, just to embarrass me.” Rogers was flushing and looking pointedly off into the distance. “Bucky made me autograph his copy.”

Fluffy stabbed at her food again. “Right, this sucks. So can I talk to some of you in private where you can throw things and scream and shit?”

“Who?” Darcy asked. “I mean, who first?”

“Tony. Better to get it over with.” She looked over, “Obviously you should bring Loki because you two are like joined at the brain anyway.”

“Soul, actually,” Loki said calmly, although he was rather worried about what this might involve.

“Yeah, whatever.” She put down a mostly unfinished container of food. “Let’s get this done.”

He noticed the remaining Avengers looking worried at the food she left behind as they went to the lab.

“Jarvis, no calls.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, she left a partially eaten food container behind. understandably the people who know her are very concerneed.


	65. The circumstances were completely different.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the circumstances were entirely different in this AU, really. Not that it's over, entirely.

Once they were in the lab, Fluffy insisted on having everything breakable put away. “And I want you to surrender your gauntlet.”

“Are you kidding?” Tony asked her dubiously.

“No, I don’t want to be ducking random blasts when you flip–if you flip.”

“You think I’ll flip?”

“I dunno… you might. Look, I figured better you flip at me than Jamie.”

Tony looked at her  for a moment and then shrugged, “Jarvis?No Calls– As certain as Scotch and Soda, Loki has the overrides.” He took off his cuffs and handed them to Loki. “Okay, shoot.”

Fluffy looked back and forth, “I don’t believe in sugar coating this shit. It’s bad: I don’t know how bad, because I don’t know how you feel about some people.”

“He killed someone I knew?”

“Yeah, he did. At least two people that he remembered, anyway.” She was looking at him with those big, blue eyes, and she wasn’t faking sympathy. She looked like Natasha: like sympathy was a sort of foreign idea and it made her uncomfortable. Whatever she had to say was pretty bad then. Loki squeezed his hand.

“So, like I said, he was messed up. He was their only successful super soldier, and they wanted more, so they needed to get their hands on samples of the original serum.”

“Okay… Well, there weren’t any more.”

“Yes, there were: your dad had them, in his car, with your mom, when Hydra sent the Winter Soldier to get the serum and kill all the witnesses.”

Tony had a momentary feeling of complete numbness. Well, of course, if there were any samples, Howard would have had them, and, naturally, if they sent anyone, it would be their best Asset, and, of course, Hydra would want Howard dead anyway. Hadn’t he grown up on horror stories about Hydra?

Then it was like a kaleidoscope of rage, sympathy, horror: Jamie looking at him like he looked familiar somehow; Jamie having a breakdown; the chair; people shouting words at him, expecting him to respond like a robot; his parents dead of a car accident; his mother… Obie…

~

Loki caught him before he could fall down. He laid him out on the table and stood up, carefully blocking the link so nothing Loki discussed would leak through and trouble him.

“Oh. So it is bad? I was kind of hoping since he hated his dad…” Fluffy was biting her lip and looking concerned.

“He had a very poor relationship with his father, yes. He had no problems with his mother, however. Also, while I despise Odin, and Anthony’s relationship with his father was horrid as well, that doesn’t mean either of us could take their murder with equanimity.”

“Oh.” She frowned, “I woulda cheered, but I guess I’m not a good judge of stuff like that.”

“I think you had best give me any further information and then get back to Jamie,” Loki said gently. He didn’t know how well Anthony would cope when he came back to himself.

“Shit.” She sighed, “Okay, well… The thing is, he’s Bucky Barnes.”

“Who?” Loki frowned. “Wait, the ‘Bucky’ that Rogers keeps talking about?”

“Yeah, his best buddy ever? The one who died? Except apparently he didn’t die, Hydra got him and worked him over.” She frowned, “He didn’t even recognize that ‘Steve Rogers: Captain America’ his target was ‘Steve Rogers my best friend ever’ until we got to the hotel after the Smithsonian–”

“Bucky?” Anthony’s voice was shaky. “Jamie is Bucky BARNES?!”

“Elskan mín, I thought you were unconscious.” Loki felt foolish. With his side of the link shielded naturally he felt nothing on the bond; it didn’t mean Anthony was unconscious.

“Uh, sorry?” Fluffy said hesitantly. “Yes, he’s Bucky Barnes–freaked me out standing next to the Bucky photo in the Smithsonian–and he didn’t even remember Steve was HIS Steve.”

Anthony shook off any contact with Loki, “No. Not now, Lo. Jarvis? Bring up the images of Bucky Barnes and the images of Jamie–cross compare.”

Jarvis projected images of what Loki presumed was Bucky Barnes onto the screens, and then placed images of Jamie next to them. Even at a glance Loki could see they looked like the same man, but Jarvis then proceeded to do some manner of detailed analysis of the two images, including meticulous measurements of his ear for some reason.

“Match, Sir,” Jarvis said. “The certainty is extremely high, allowing for the limited quality of the older images. If he is not James Buchanan Barnes, then he must be either a close relative with an unexpectedly high congruence of identifying features, or a clone.”

“Anyway, he remembered, and he told me, and I said I would handle it.” Fluffy sighed. “He didn’t choose to kill them, but he remembers killing them. I figured you needed to know–preferably before he threw himself at your feet whining about it.”

Anthony looked at Fluffy with an utterly flat expression. “Is he sorry about it? Really?”

“I dunno, he was all, ‘Oh My God, I killed Howard Stark! I didn’t even remember who he was! And ‘I killed Tony’s parents, he’s going to kill me, maybe he should, I’m a monster’, kind of alternating with shutting down behind the soldier face.” She shrugged. “I think part of the time he’s sorry and the rest of the time he’s trying to believe he actually did it.” She looked thoughtfully at Anthony, “Seriously, he did what they told him to do. You saw the chair and heard the goons, right? They were going to have him kill Steve and he didn’t even know who that WAS.”

“When did he figure that out?” Loki could FEEL the analysis arguing with the emotions in Anthony’s mind across the link.

“I think when I left him looking at the picture book in the hotel. We had to leave fast so I bought the picture book?” Anthony nodded. “He just phased out staring at it for hours, long enough for me to dye my hair and stuff–he never even looked up. Then he was going on about how Steve Rogers was ‘Stevie’ and asking me how he could be alive.”

~

Tony held up a hand and sat trying to make sense of it all.

Jamie was well and truly messed up–he’d seen it for himself. He’d seen at least some of the Winter Soldier information on the computer, and he doubted even Fluffy knew how brutal it was, likely no one but a super solider would have survived. He also knew that he’d barely skimmed the surface of it. He knew–KNEW–that Jamie couldn’t be held to account for anything he’d done, not really.

But he wanted to rip him apart.

Tony held out a hand to Loki…

_It’s not his fault._

_No, no, it isn’t._

_I know it’s not his fault_

_Mmm-Hmmm._

_I want to kill him._

_Would you feel any better? If you did?_

_Sigh. No._

Tony opened his eyes. Fluffy was standing there looking awkward.

“If you really have to kill him–” she started to say.

“No, no, I don’t. I just… I may want to hit him a few times?”

“That’s cool, he can take it.” she nodded. _Fluffy was really strange._

“I probably won’t do that, either.”

“Well, can I be here? When you do whatever? Because he kind of flips into soldier mode sometimes and…” She waved her hands vaguely.

“When were you going to tell Steve?” Tony asked curiously. He could feel Loki startle on the link and wonder as well.

“After I found out if you were going to kill him or something. No point in getting him all happy about Bucky, and then spend, like, hours trying to explain that Jamie isn’t even sure he’s still the same guy, if you were going to blast him.”

“You’d seriously let me blast him?”

“I was going to try to talk you out of it.”

“But if you couldn’t?”

“I was hoping I could.”

“And you wouldn’t have just told Steve?!”

“Why? So he can freak out that you killed his buddy?”

“You would have kept that a secret from him?!”

“Uh, Tony… Let’s see, I can tell Steve that Jamie is Bucky–and I still don’t know how well that will go over, because, seriously, Jamie is pretty different, you know? Eventually, Jamie will blurt out how sorry he is about Howard, and you’ll find out. So, if I tell Steve first, you both find out and you might kill him… or I can tell you, make sure I know whether you’re going to kill him, and THEN tell Steve.

She looked thoughtful, “That way if you killed him, I have blackmail material, but otherwise Steve never has to know.”

Tony stared at her, “Blackmail for what?”

“I dunno… in case?” she shrugged. “I’d rather have Jamie, though, so I’m really glad you aren’t going to kill him. It’s not his fault anyway, really.” She frowned, “Seriously, I’d really rather you didn’t kill him. I’ve gotten… sort of… fond of him.” She sounded sour, like she was admitting something vaguely unpleasant.

“I won’t kill him.” Tony sighed, “I probably won’t even hit him, but I want to know what he remembers.”

“He’ll either be all mixed up about it or give you an Asset report,” she frowned “so if that bugs you, you might not want to.”

“I’m going to need a bit to… adjust,” Tony admitted. “I think I’ll go over more of the Hydra files on the Asset: it makes me more sympathetic.” Tony took a deep breath.

“Cool. You do that. I’ll call Jamie and tell him it’s going well so he frets less, and then I gotta go talk to Remy.”

“He recognized you?” Loki asked.

“Apparently. Is he under the bindings?”

“Yes.”

“I guess that’s good. He’s cute, be kind of a pity if I killed him.”

“Killed him?” Tony looked dubious, “For recognizing your picture?”

“Depends on why he saw it,” she shrugged. “You take your break time, I’ll go chat with Remy. Then maybe we can tell Steve. Call me.” She walked out.

“She is a REALLY strange lady,” Tony muttered.

“Truth,” Loki nodded. “What Hydra files are you referring to?”

“The ones in the lab, that had him, that we trashed.” Tony blinked, “Oh, shit, I need to ask her about the scientists and stuff–they got shipped back to the Club. Anyway, they tortured Jamie–the Asset–routinely, from what I saw. After looking over the medical files and program files a few times I think I’ll lose the urge to throw him out a window without a super suit.”

Loki let Tony show him the files. After a short while they both wanted to throw the Hydra handlers out a window without a super suit.

If Jamie had once been Bucky Barnes, and remembered it, it was a miracle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony has an insane capability for forgiveness, really. in addition, in this AU he has MET JAmie, seen himm in recovery, seen him break down, seen him flip, seen a glimpse of what Hydra did to him. He's seen the chair and heard people snapping code phrases at him that *they expected to work*. he knows, close up, what mind control is like (Clint, Loki, himself)   
> AND he heard Sitwell talking casually about Hydra reprogramming people into loyal Hydra goons.
> 
> Fluffy also came to him *as soon as she could* and told him.
> 
> Fluffy is shut down, emotionally. she is facing the fact that she MIGHT have to make the call to let Jamie be hurt or killed, and she doesn't want to. this is causing her to shut down HARD. she is also dealing with a possible problem from her past.... on top of that.


	66. yes he has the long johns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> picks up after the previous chapter AND chapter 22 of Asset Management   
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/8874262/chapters/23796858

Tony and Loki walked back in and were almost immediately pounced on by… well, everyone.

“What happened with you two and Fluffy?”

“She still won’t eat!” Bruce waved the still half-full take-out box.

“She was talking about eating ice cream and killing people–I think she’s depressed,” Steve said looking worried.

“No, I’m fairly certain that’s normal.” Natasha nodded, “But she did seem stressed. She was saying she thought she was ‘catching’ heroism or something.”

“She left with Remy, is she going to be safe?” Bobby asked worriedly.

Warren just groaned, “She’s a member of the Hellfire Club and apparently a mutant like us–I think HE’s the one in danger.”

“Woah! Everyone just… woah!” Tony rubbed his forehead and dragged his hand down his face. “Okay, Clint? What?”

“She came out from talking to you, got into an argument with Hank, started sparking and glowing slightly, and then started whimpering about how she was turning into a hero or something and needed… uh… shots.”

“Like heroism is cooties?” Tony blinked a lot. “Yeah, okay, I can see that.”

Loki snickered.

“She was asking how to scrape the heroism off, like… it stuck to her, or something.” Clint was clearly trying not to laugh.

Loki “tsked” and said, “Well, she has been spending a lot of time around you, gæludýr minn.”

Tony glared at him and looked over at Steve, “She needs to talk to you, since Jamie turns out to be from your era.” He said it carefully, not wanting to step on Fluffy’s plans for introductions.

Steve suddenly looked like a kid on Christmas. “That would be great! I mean, he’s probably had more time to adjust to all the modern stuff, but–”

“More time to adjust, certainly,” said Natasha, “but he’s been brainwashed and drugged to the point that he didn’t remember his own name? I expect he will have a long time recovering. He didn’t remember shooting me, and that wasn’t that long ago.”

“He screamed and collapsed in the van on the way down,” Clint looked pointedly at Tony. “I bet he was remembering something–that was right after he said Fluffy reminded him of his mom.”

“I can’t picture Fluffy reminding ANYONE of their mom,” Warren said firmly.

Clint shrugged, “You didn’t see her getting defensive about him. I didn’t think it was very mom-like, but she’s clearly very protective of him. Anyway, he was talking about her giving him a ‘dressing down and telling him to straighten up’ speech instead of punishing him the way the Hydra people did. Apparently, he associates–”

“–emergency! Dude is wearing a long coat and doesn’t know his HERITAGE!!!!” Fluffy came tearing into the room looking around wide-eyed and skidding up to Tony while everyone startled or stared. Tony noticed Darcy vaulting the bar to cover.

“What?”

“He’s never seen Firefly!”

Darcy’s head popped up. “Wait, what?”

“He’s never seen Firefly, or Supernatural, or BBC Sherlock!!!! Dude’s wearing a long coat and doesn’t know his HERITAGE!”

“I’m Cajun, you all live in the North and my coat is warm, also very cool looking,” Remy said, looking very bewildered at the crew.

“AWESOME WEARS A LONG COAT!” Fluffy said at the top of her lungs, stamping a foot.

“This is true,” Darcy nodded. “Also Doctor Who.”

“He hasn’t seen that EITHER!”

“WHAT?!”

“We can arrange a television day,” Bruce said in a placating fashion while waving the take-out carton at Fluffy.

 _Oh, good, she’s ranting about Fandom: she must be feeling better._ “So, uh, can this be put off until later, or do I have to get Jarvis to set up the video–”

“He doesn’t know SPIKE!”

Remy just looked around and smiled in a sort of confused fashion, “Sorry?”

“Wait, you don’t know Spike? From Buffy the Vampire Slayer?” Clint suddenly asked suspiciously, “How can you not know Spike?”

“SEE!!!!!”

 _Oh, God_. Tony bonked his head into the nearest solid object, which happened to be Loki. “Look, can we deal with this in order? Didn’t you need to talk to Steve?”

“Oh,” Fluffy visibly deflated, “yeah.”

“It can be later!” Steve said worriedly. “If you aren’t up to it. Uh… I don’t know most of those shows either, although I’ve heard most of them mentioned.”

“No, no, best to get this over with. Hey, Tony, can I borrow the lab room? Or should I go back up to the roof?”

“Roof, probably. The lab has a lot of equipment in it.”

“Do you want to eat more first?” Bruce asked.

She ran over to behind Steve and put her hands on his lower back. “Go! Mush! The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can get Jamie over here and eat, or throw someone off a building, or something!”

Tony noticed that she wasn’t actually pushing on him–not that she could move him if he didn’t want to–but Steve obediently went out to the roof access.

“I am NOT looking forward to this,” Tony said after she was gone.

“Is it that bad?” Clint asked

“Did he, like, betray the U.S. to the Nazis or something?” Bobby asked worriedly.

“Jesus! No, why do people even think… never mind. No. The problem is that he really isn’t the same guy he was, but Cap is likely to try to act like he IS.”

“Huh?”

Loki spoke up, “As Fluffy said, he was a hero under all that conditioning… a ‘good guy’.” Loki shrugged. “Now he has done a lot of very bad things, for many years, even if it wasn’t his fault. That changes you.”

“Yeah, it does,” Clint said quietly.

Remy tilted his head, “People don’t come out of long term bad situations the same as they went in. they may be stronger, but they aren’t the same.”

“Exactly,” Tony nodded. “Well, the question is how well Steve deals with a guy who used to be one of the good guys, who’s been working for Hydra for a really long time, and is only JUST getting his memory back.” He winced, “That, and dealing with Fluffy having her ideas about people.”

“What ideas?” Hank McCoy asked.

Loki cut in smoothly, “She saved his life, he owes her, and he is working for her in repayment.”

“That sounds suspicious, somehow.”

“That’s only because he’s saying it.”

Warren sighed and said, “Fluffy is a Hellfire Club member–I believe she thinks he HAS to work for her. I’ve seen some of that attitude: she basically thinks she owns him.”

Coulson materialized or something over near the wall– _I’m going to paint every single wall in primary colors, then he can’t do that_ –and said, “Yes, she does think she owns him, although she seems to be taking good care of him, and unfortunately he seems to be going along with that.”

Remy looked thoughtful, “If he’s been kicked around hard enough, he may not know how to live on his own right now.”

“Probably,” Tony said reluctantly. “He acted like his mission in life was working for her. Jarvis? I want all the walls repainted.”

Everyone else looked confused. Jarvis just said, “Certainly, Sir. Any particular instructions or shall we just continue your usual theme of hot rod red?”

“Well, yeah, that’s good, but may be a bit much for the entire floor or something. Pick a few other non-grey colors.”

“Certainly, Sir. I commend your restraint; shall we add in some Emerald Green for Mister Laufeyson?”

“Very kind of you, Jarvis,” Loki said as he fixed himself some kind of frozen berry thing over at the bar.

“You want to watch that, Jarvis, it might look too Christmas,” Tony frowned.

“Why are we repainting the walls?” Clint asked somewhat desperately. Natasha just shrugged.

“Because Oyster Shell and Grey is apparently perfect Coulson Camo.” Tony went over to the bar and Loki handed him a smoothie.

Clint was muttering something. Coulson just smirked and said, “I’ll have to up my game a bit, but nothing too difficult.”

“You’re going to blend in against primary colors, Agent?”

“I’ll get my Captain America tie.”

“You have a Captain America tie?” Bobby asked.

“I’m convinced he has Captain America long johns,” Tony snapped.

“I’d tell you about my long johns, but you have a jealous boyfriend,” Coulson came back immediately.

“Woah!” Darcy whistled, “Agent Coulson, stealth sass master–who knew?”

Natasha waved a hand. Clint coughed, “He’s just getting warmed up.”

Apparently he was.

After a short time Tony conceded stunned defeat and got everyone ice cream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like this is one of those books that says "turn to page 65" or something. if you want to see Fluffy's talk to Steve go to chapter 23 of Asset Management, otherwise hang out for the ice cream.
> 
> comments are gold


	67. Pre-Colombian Languages, and Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the incident with Loki, Hospitality, the Gag and the Safeword (ALLL the way back in the beginning chapters of Someone Had To Say It) Tony insisted Jarvis practice.

While they were waiting for the ice cream–and Fluffy– Warren asked, “So… Remy… um…” He apparently changed tracks in mid-“um”. “So, are you alright?”

“Why would I not be alright?” He looked cautious, which about broke Tony’s heart. He knew what it was like to not really be friends with “your team”.

Tony cut in, “There was a brief debate among the X-Men present as to who was in danger in your talk with Fluffy.”

Remy nodded at him politely while Warren was shooting him a “How could you?” look. Tony noticed a few of his team raising eyebrows: Bobby mostly looked embarrassed; it was hard to tell what Hank thought, what with the fur.

“Well, fortunately,” Remy said with a smile, “it worked out well. Other than my apparent lack of cultural heritage.”

“Did it have anything to do with Jamie?” Darcy asked. “Or was it about the fact that you recognized her from somewhere?”

“It had nothing to do with Jamie, although we did speak about him briefly,” Remy answered politely–then he smiled at Darcy and she melted.

Loki coughed, “Your abilities must make it difficult to have a conversation…”

Remy looked a bit abashed, “You noticed that?”

Tony looked back at Loki, “Noticed?”

“Mister LeBeau apparently–”

“Please, call me Remy.”

“Remy… apparently has some inherent ability to charm.”

Bobby muttered, “It’s the accent.”

“Ah, no,” Loki said politely. “Although I have noticed Americans are highly susceptible to a good accent. Remy has a GIFT–much like my Uncle Frey or Aunt Freyja.”

“They’re still related, unlike brother or…?” Clint asked before Tony could.

“They are in fact related on my Mother’s side, but in any event it would be something like a ‘courtesy title’?” Loki shrugged, “Remy seems to have an inherent ability to charm women, as a power,” he smirked, “as opposed to those of us who merely have to rely on our way with words and dazzling good looks.”

“And knife skills, Maleficent, don’t forget knife skills… or rope skills… or–”

“TMI, Tony,” Clint said, but he was laughing.

“I dunno,” Darcy said thoughtfully. “I say we need to have a comparison check: I volunteer.”

Natasha shook her head, “Okay, you guys, knock it off.” She raised an eyebrow at Loki. “Seriously? Like a magical charm spell?”

“We didn’t know anything about this,” Hank said looking suspicious at Remy.

Remy shrugged, “Yes, I have a mutant ability to charm people. No, I don’t use it much.” He shrugged again, “Dis is as close to ‘off’ as it gets, I’m afraid.”

Tony frowned at the X-men. “Well, given that you guys don’t trust him, why should he trust you? It pretty well sucks to know your team doesn’t have your back.” He noticed a few minute flinches on his team. “Anyway, Remy…. Dude… it’s a good thing I’m taken now because, honestly, two of us in one party would be a problem.”

“Is that why my brain turns off around you? Seriously? I mean like waaaaay more than usual?” Darcy asked.

“Yes? I really can’t help it.” Remy shrugged uncomfortably, “If it any help, it seems worse around people I find attractive, but it DOES seem to settle a bit after I get used to them–or dey get used to me?”

Natasha shrugged, “Your accent gets stronger when you’re uncomfortable; the charm effect does, too–it’s probably a defense mechanism.” She nodded, “That explains it.”

“You…” He blinked at her, “You never seemed affected.”

“Oh, I felt it,” she shrugged. “It just has a slightly different result on me–I wanted to stab you. How did Fluffy react?”

 _Stabbed?_ Warren mouthed at him; Tony just nodded.

Remy smiled a bit more and ducked his head. _Yeah, that was gonna get the girls, charm powers or not._ “Fluffy seemed only mildly affected, but that might have been because we were talking about difficult things. She did mention wanting to talk… later.” He nodded, “I agreed it would be something to take up after this is settled and everyone calms down.”

Natasha nodded slowly, “A lot of people in the room have touchy backgrounds. Push too hard, even accidentally, and you could end up…” She was obviously searching for a polite way of saying it.

“Dead?” Tony offered helpfully.

Natasha nodded, “At least.”

“You… charm? People?” Hank finally spluttered.

“It’s not like I can help it.” Remy was starting to look defensive again.

“Right!” Tony nodded. “Ice cream? We have ice cream…” he started handing out bowls and getting the toppings set up. “Okay, Remy? Just so we’re clear, no charming Pepper.”

“I met the lady,” he said laughing. “She’s very charming, but I don’t think she’s my type.”

“No charming Carol.”

“She scares me.”

“Okay, you have sense.”

“Hey! Why am I not on this list?” Darcy said around a spoonful of ice cream.

“You’re Clint’s problem.”

Clint promptly nodded solemnly, “No charming Darcy. If you are STUPID enough to try to charm Nat after she warned you, I can’t help you.”

Remy laughed, “Seriously, I don’t try to charm people unless my life depends on it.”

Jarvis “coughed” slightly. “Captain Rogers is on his way down.”

“How’d it go?”

“I believe he wants to speak to you about several issues.”

“Oh.”

“Tony?” Steve called and then came into view, “Tony, I… uh… Oh, right... Company.”

“Ice cream?” Tony asked, firmly shoving a bowl in his direction.

Fluffy trudged in with a morose expression–which shifted immediately as she saw the bowls. “That looks like ice cream?”

Bruce nodded. “And jimmies.”

Fluffy ran over and hugged him again. “Seriously, can I take you home?”

Tony shook his head, “He’s like one of the expensive library books: you can borrow him all you like, but you can’t take him off premises without leaving a deposit.”

“Dude, that’s not how library books work,” Darcy said.

“It’s how it worked at college…”

“Tony, we need to talk.” Steve had his “Very Serious” face on.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Ice cream first,” Tony said firmly.

Fluffy reluctantly said, “I told Jamie to come over.”

“Already?!” Tony stared at her.

“I need to know what happened to him–” Steve said at about the same time Fluffy said, “They already shouted by phone–”

Fluffy stuffed a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth and made a statement, but from what Tony could see no one else understood her either.

“I don’t speak Spoon… Uh, Jarvis?”

“While the dialect appears to be different from your morning pre-Colombian language, Sir, I believe she said, ‘it seemed like a good idea’.”

“Thanks.” Tony nodded.

“How can Jarvis–” Coulson was waving his hand at a speaker.

“Jarvis? How do you understand that?” Loki sounded almost awed. “Translating Anthony I can put down to long years of experience–”

“That is SO cool!” Fluffy bounced on her toes, “Can someone get ME a snark-bot too?!”

“Alas, I am thus far unique, Miss,” Jarvis was doing his vaguely amused tone again.

“Jarvis can translate pre-caffeine Tony Stark?” Coulson asked.

“Hard as it may be to believe, I witnessed this.” Clint sighed. He looked at Natasha, “The car and Loki incident.”

“Oh…” She nodded, “Jarvis was translating that?”

Loki looked amused, “Servant’s magic; I still say so.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, I mean, Jarvis can usually translate me but I have no idea what you guys are talking about?” Tony looked around, it seemed only the spysassins and Loki knew about it, whatever it was.

Loki came over and wrapped his arms around Tony–which was sort of confusing but Tony totally didn’t mind–“Elskan skáld mín, apparently you become rather… passionate... around cars.”

“Huh?”

“Is this relevant?” Steve asked.

Tony started to answer, “No, I don’t think–”

Darcy swallowed her ice cream, “Totally relevant. Anything that affects team performance and communication is important.”

Steve looked a bit unsettled and Darcy high fived Fluffy.

Loki continued, “I came back covered in gasoline and motor oil, wielding a knife?”

Tony’s mind raced into the gutter with lightning speed. “Oh… yeah… leather and auto shop…” He leaned back into Loki and inhaled, remembering it. Several of the team coughed or protested.

Coulson just said drily, “And this has to do with translating Tony pre-coffee?”

Clint grinned, “The next morning I went to deliver the summary and he was making completely indecipherable noises, and Jarvis was translating for us.”

Darcy nodded solemnly, “So Jarvis can translate mouthful-of-ice-cream and pre-Colombian languages; good to know.”

“In all fairness, Miss Lewis, Mister Stark insisted I practice ‘muffled speech interpretation’ after I failed to recognize a safeword while Mister Stark was gagged.”

Tony looked up at Loki, “You’re not mad about that, are you? Because it all worked out great but it was kind of a dangerous–”

“Nonsense, kjánalegt maður, it is a very good idea.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and then snapped out–in command voice, which he did really well–“CAN we get back to the fact that Bucky Barnes is ALIVE and–”

It got loud after that…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References chapter 96-97 of Someone Had To say It. Chapter 97: “Pre-Colombian Languages”


	68. Name Dropping -Loki's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God-Dammit Fluffy... (i swear the character does this just to annoy me)  
> All spelling and grammatical errors are on me, my proof reader is still unwell.)

Apparently the room was now divided between people who had been Captain America fans, and had heard about Bucky Barnes, and people who hadn’t.

“Bucky?! Jamie is BUCKY?!” His Hawk was spluttering.

“Who’s Bucky?” Romanov was looking perplexed.

“Oh Holy God Dammed Fuck…” Darcy breathed and started backing slowly toward the bar.

Loki hadn’t realized just how much help Coulson had been in keeping the Avengers more or less pointed in the same direction, until he wasn’t doing it…

“Bucky? Jamie is James Buchanan Barnes? And he’s been working for Hydra?!” Coulson looked stunned.

Doctor McCoy was swiveling his head back and forth–and apparently could do so at a wider angle than most humans, Loki noted– “should I have heard of this guy?”

Fluffy was trudging over to the bar, and the ice cream. She shot a look at Anthony and Loki that could have been easily captioned with “Sorry, I tried,” and started scooping toppings into her bowl. She leaned up against the bar and when Darcy got over there silently handed her the multi-colored candy bits.

“Fine, Steve, he was a friend of yours, I get that, but–” Banner was trying to be calming.

“He wasn’t just a friend of mine! He was like the brother I never had!” Steve shouted.

“Who is this guy?”  Bobby Drake asked, looking a bit wide eyed at the sudden change in the room.

Remy moved–surprisingly quietly– around the edge off the room and ended up over by the ice cream. Fluffy handed him a bowl, Darcy handed him a spoon.

“Wasn’t Bucky Barnes like some young sidekick?” Warren asked, “Like wasn’t he just a kid?”

Anthony looked up from the sofa, “Bucky Barnes was the same age as Steve Rogers, some of the comics made him younger.  He actually joined the military first because Steve was considered Four-F before the treatment that made him Captain America.”

Coulson  started talking rather quickly, “He was rescued from a prison camp by Captain America, and then they both went on to  a lot of front lines work– up until then Captain America was mostly doing  publicity and morale building work, since the military didn’t know how to integrate a super powered individual into the regular military.  Bucky Barnes had been… subjected…” he trailed off.

Anthony nodded, “Subjected to the enemies’ experiments in creating a super soldier before he was rescued. He later ‘died’ after an impossible to survive fall from a train during a mission, his body was never recovered. I know; Howard Stark paid for  a few recovery teams to try to find the body to bring him home for burial.” Anthony sighed.

Rogers was looking very uncomfortable in Anthony’s direction.

Coulson– still sounding rather stunned– said, “They took Captain America’s sidekick, Bucky Barnes–”

“He was NEVER my side-kick!” Rogers sputtered, “That was just the stupid publicity nonsense. I owe Bucky my life like eight times over, even AFTER I got the serum!  Shit, he kept count, I saved him twice and he saved me at least eight times… he was up by six…” his voice trailed off and he sat down, rather hard, “he never let me forget it… especially over cards…”

“– and turned him into a Hydra super soldier… who was going to kill Director Fury?” Coulson sounded a bit strangled.

Fluffy dinged her spoon against a glass, everyone looked over.

“James Buchanan Barnes was repeatedly electroshocked, subjected to chemicals, and God knows what else, until he didn’t even remember his own name. He was called Soldat, or Asset. He killed a lot of people and they wiped his brain whenever he showed signs of remembering too much.  He didn’t know his name, where he was from, or anything.”

She scraped the spoon around in her bowl and looked mournfully down into it before continuing.  Darcy took it away and started re-filling it.

“Anyway, yeah, he was being woken up– they put him in a deep freezer between missions, so he wouldn’t have time to, you know, recover? Anyway… he was supposed to kill Fury, and he had a list of other targets, next up being Steve Rogers.  He DID NOT remember that Steve Rogers, Captain America, was anyone he knew.  He only started remembering bits and pieces after I got him, partly because I was telling him it was okay, he had permission to remember, and partly because I wasn’t electroshocking him every few days.”

Most people were listening; Coulson kept looking at the chair Fluffy and Jamie had been in the last time they were here.

“He remembered bits and pieces, including a friend named ‘Stevie’ who was sick all the time, but the thing that did it was when I took him to the Captain America and World War Two exhibit at the Smithsonian after we trashed the Hydra lab.  It took a lot of work to get him home after that.  He’s pretty well having this guilt shit, and going ‘oh my God, I’m a horrible person what did I do?’ and stuff.  God damn heroes!”

Darcy handed her the bowl of ice cream back and Fluffy stabbed it with a spoon.

Agent Coulson, very slowly asked, “He remembers who he is now?

“Yeah.”

“And what he did for Hydra?”

“Some of it at least.” She shrugged.

Doctor McCoy looked thoughtful, “They actually managed to do that much brainwashing? Because that’s been the goal of a lot of agencies for a long time, but everyone I spoke to agreed it wasn’t really possible.”

Coulson sighed, “Oh, it’s POSSIBLE, it’s just that what people have usually ended up with is a non-creative rote behavior set. Someone who isn’t good for much beyond desk work because they can’t react to an unpredictable situation without a psychotic break.” He frowned, “Recently Jasper– who turned out to be a Hydra agent– told us that Hydra had much more advanced capabilities.  Most of the Avengers were being considered for the program, to convert them into Hydra operatives.”

“The White Queen can do that.” Bobby said glancing at Fluffy.

“Nah, not so much.” Fluffy shrugged, “I know she wants you guys to think so, but… She can do it for a short time, but if you are REALLY opposed to it the hero-itis  recurs and you snap out of it.” She sighed, “I suppose that’s what’s up with Jamie, I stopped bashing him upside the head like they were and all those hero tendencies started coming back out.” She sniffled, “And now it looks like I’m catching it.”

“I don’t think it’s contagious.” Doctor Banner said looking at her a bit oddly, “But you must have had a nicer side based on how well you treated him and how much you were helping him. You MUST have been able to be nice to people before without… um…”

“I hope so. If I start getting anxiety over killing people this is gonna suck!”

Anthony raised his voice, “Look, ready or not he’s on his way over.  God knows I’m not really ready for it, but there it is.  Since he and Steve both have big appetites I suggest we order in a ton of comfort food, and deal with it as it comes.”

“I agree with the idea of ordering in a great deal of food, elskan mín, but I strongly suggest that their first meeting be somewhat more private than this,” Loki waved at the assembled group.

Anthony looked up at him thoughtfully, “You do have a point there, green eyes,” then he looked over at Rogers, “Growing up as a tech head I may not be the best judge of how people relate, but… maybe the gym?  Just in case this ends up with two super soldiers having an argument?”

Rogers sighed, “He’d beat me into the ground if he ever wanted to.”

Coulson looked very oddly at him, “You’re not that easy to–”

“From what you’re saying, he’s ACTUALLY a super soldier now, like I am?”

“Yeah,” Fluffy nodded, “most people would have been dead in the wreckage at Pierce’s house, “she grinned, “that and watching him take down the S.H.I.E.L.D. good squad was awesome.”

Romanov spoke up, “The Winter Soldier–Jamie– took out a S.T.R.I.K.E. team here, and several highly armed guards at the lab facility we were taking down.  He’s as fast and as strong as Steve.” She lookd thoughtful, “Psychology is critical in a fight, though. If Steve doesn’t think he can beat him, he won’t.”

“If Jamie is too spooked to hit him I don’t think it will matter.” Fluffy said thoughtfully, “but… look, you all have to keep this in mind, his brain got REALLY scrambled.  Sometimes he gets flashbacks.”

“I do seem to recall that,” Loki said drily, remembering a fast moving dead-eyed killer coming after them in the lab.

“Right now I think he’d sooner cut his own throat than hit ‘Stevie’ but if he got into a weird headspace, it could get messy. I agree with the gym, but I gotta be there.”

“Why you?”

“Hydra put control keys in,” she shrugged, “give how unstable he was–still is– Emma didn’t want to try to pull them, so we changed them.  That’s why every time the Hydra folks rattle off the code words they don’t work.” She grinned cheerfully, “I did tell him he could kill anyone who tried to use them.”

Fluff suddenly blinked a few times, “OH!” she smacked herself in the head in an exaggerated fashion, “Stupid! I forgot to mention… Rumlow is dead– I think he died too quickly myself– and if you want Jasper Sitwell back you’ll have to drag him away from Emma’s feet.” She shrugged apologetically at Coulson, “Thigh high boots, and can tell what turns you on? It WAS kind of a given.”

Coulson stared at her and then winced, “Ah… yes, well…”

“What is going on with this?” Remy was looking around in confusion. “I came in on part two here, I think.”

Anthony sighed, “Fluff? Go down to the gym with Steve; I’ll have Jarvis deliver food and  the super soldier shakes. Everyone else? We can have a question and answer session.”

Fluffy hesitantly came over to Anthony. “Thanks again.”

“Yeah,” he smiled a bit tiredly, “I went over the records we got… Emma wasn’t kidding about how messed up he was–I’m surprised there was anything left.”

“Yeah, Hydra messed up a REALLY good kisser– luckily he’s getting over it. I’m gonna kill them for that.”

Loki could see Rogers turning an interesting shade of red over her shoulder.

“For messing up a really good kisser? Not for… trying to take over the world, torturing and experimenting on people, all that other stuff?” Bobby was staring at her and spluttering.  He looked around to the others for support–most of the rest of the room was simply waiting to hear Fluffy’s rather unique answers for this one.

“Seriously? Puh-Leeeze!” Fluffy snorted at him, “These guys are just junior league– it’s not like they’re Magneto or anything.”

Loki had never heard of this individual and most of the Avengers looked as though it was familiar but not immediately to mind- to judge from expression- but Coulson’s eyes widened before he hid behind his blank façade, and the X-men all recoiled.  _A name to conjure with, then._

“Who?” Anthony–his straightforward darling– asked.  _Anthony wore his heart, and his interests, on his sleeve; how had I missed it._

Fluffy and the Captain walked to the elevator as Doctor McCoy said, “One of the most dangerous mutants on the planet–luckily no one’s heard from him in a while.”

“Oh, he’s alright.” Fluffy shrugged, “just kind of touchy. I think he’s hunting down Nazi’s in South America now or something,” She brightened up as the elevator door started to close and stuck her foot in the door to stop it, “Hey!  He hates Nazi’s…Maybe we should get him involved in the Hydra hunt?”

Judging from the horrified looks on the X-men, and Coulson, Loki thought he should cut this off quickly.  “Perhaps we can discuss it after the Captain and his friend get re-acquainted, and everyone has eaten something besides ice cream?”

“Oh… yeah, good idea.” She nodded and took her foot out of the door. 

Loki waited until the elevator was off the floor before sighing and looking at Coulson, “I think we all have a great deal to discuss.”

Coulson sagged into a wall, muttering– his Hawk and the Spider were staring at him in concern.

“Phil? I take it this is bad?” Barton slowly asked.

“Let’s put it this way: can we go back to Bucky Barnes being a Hydra super solider?  I think it’s simpler.”

Anthony just sighed, “Never a dull moment in New York… Someone get out the menus and let’s get food ordered in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES, Magneto exists- obviously.


	69. Intermission and planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, right... that problem... yeah gotta go deal with that problem...

“We have to call Professor Xavier…” Hank said firmly.

“About what?”

“Magneto, what else?”

Tony spoke up from the take out menu, “Until he’s under the bindings, OR Fluffy gives you her permission, you can’t.  It’s information given in confidence.”

There was a brief argument about that – and some clarification about the bindings from Loki– before it settled down to grumbles. Several people got their orders in with Jarvis in the meantime.

Phil sighed, “Alright, can we focus back on what’s going on with Hydra, Super Soldiers, mind control, and so on before we get started on  ‘supervillains capable of  taking down the helicarrier without trying hard’?”

“Yeah, we sh– say what?!” Tony yelped.

“Magneto has powers that I don’t understand that well, but basically if its ferrous metal, he can rip it apart.”

Darcy frowned, “So steel girders?”

Hank interrupted, “Magneto has control over a wide range of energies, call it the magnetic field; he has the MOST control over metals like iron, steel, and so on, but yes, I’m pretty sure he could rip the engines apart on the helicarriers without too much trouble.”

“Now I remember!” Clint interjected, “isn’t he that anti human/pro mutant terrorist?”

“Yes, can we get back to the current issues?” Coulson said, dragging a hand through his hair– and then immediately smoothing it back in place.

At that point the phone rang. “Grand central,” muttered Tony, “Jarvis? Who is it?”

“Miss Emma Frost on the line for you, sir.”

Tony sighed, “Put it on speaker.”

“You have been connected, and are on speaker, Miss Frost.”

“Hi, snowflake, how’s your day been?” Tony smiled a bit despite himself.

“Better than yours I expect. I wanted to check in with you; I know Sandra said everything was going well, but…”

“Not everyone here has all the details yet,” Tony said immediately, “But yes, I guess it’s going as well as could be expected.” He changed the subject, “Did you get a chance to ask the prisoners any questions?”

“Hmm? Oh yes, I have a great deal, including the  new  location of the brainwashing laboratory– apparently the original location was destroyed, but  the main scientist  escaped and has been setting up again.”

Tony sat up happily, “GREAT!”

“Great?!” Bruce stared at him in disbelief– he wasn’t the only one.

“Yup, a clear cut case of “smash, arrest, and interrogate.  I like those. Simple… MUCH easier to deal with than ‘Bucky Barnes is a brainwashed assassin and Fluffy owns him’, or ‘hey there’s some mutant terrorist who hates you all and controls metal’.”

There was a pause on the line and then Emma cleared her throat, “Do I take it Sandra mentioned him for some reason?”

Loki drily commented, “Apparently he hates Nazis; Hydra are Nazis; therefore she was considering calling him: we suggested it wait until after food and the current difficulties were dealt with.”

“Oh God, Fluffy, why?” Emma muttered and then continued. “Yes, well… I don’t advise it. He hasn’t been causing any difficulties lately and the last thing anyone wants to do is draw his attention.”

Clint frowned, “If he’s a pro-mutant terrorist, isn’t he… not hostile to you?”

“That’s like asking if Daesh is ‘friendly’ to Muslims that don’t agree with them; the answer is no– if anything I might be in more danger as a ‘traitor’.” Emma sighed, “I’ve encountered him once– the Hellfire Club managed to work alongside him briefly but it didn’t last long.” There was a pause and then she added reluctantly, “Sandra encountered him separately and… I don’t know, maybe she confused him.”

“I believe that.”

Coulson sighed, “First of all, can we get the information on the laboratory you mentioned? Secondly, I would like to know about Jasper…”

“Jasper is where I got the information, Agent Coulson.” Emma sounded amused, “I will send it to Tony’s email. Incidentally, I see no signs that Jasper was subjected to that level of conditioning, although he is certainly easy enough to manipulate.  His need for order, and to submit to authority, made him an easy recruit– especially when combined with a persuasive dom.”

“Oh.”

“He doesn’t know the current whereabouts of the man that recruited him; he hasn’t seen him in some time.  Some of the OTHER individuals I was asked to interrogate, however, do show signs of having been affected by some type of brainwashing.  Key words and reinforcing phrases have been implanted, and their loyalties suborned.”

“Can they be recovered?” Coulson asked; he sounded tense –understandable.

“Easily.  It’s already done.  I have, of course, added safeguards,” Tony could almost picture her expression– subtle smirk and an eyebrow arched up as she tilted her head–“They cannot harm me, and I have the ability to drop them in their tracks if needed. They will not be able to answer any questions about the Club or our people.  I do not control their thoughts or loyalties, however.”

“Why would anyone believe that?!” Bobby snapped

Tony cleared his throat, “Emma is doing me a favor, not you. I suggest you stop snapping at my friend who just helped break a bunch of people out of Hydra brainwashing?”

“And Jasper?” Coulson kept circling back to his friend.

“If I returned him he would have to be tried, and likely executed or imprisoned for life, Agent Coulson.” Emma said gently, “I suggest you leave him in my custody– he’ll be happier.  I must emphasize that he truly did think of you as a friend: he was certain you would not come over to Hydra, and was relieved not to have to take action against you.”

“Thank you, but S.H.I.E.L.D. will need to know–”

“Anything you need from him I can get, Agent Coulson.  Perhaps you would feel better if Tony brought you over for a visit?”

“…I will have to consider that, Miss Frost.  I expect that the brainwashing facility will take up some of our attention, however.”

“Very likely.” Emma’s tone warmed a bit more, “Tony, I do trust you and Loki will be attending the meeting in two days– as new members of the Inner Circle.”

Tony smiled and squeezed Loki’s hand, “Of course.  Should I tell Fluffy or…?”

“No need.  See you then, Hugs.”

The line clicked off.  Tony grinned up at Loki, “Well, this will be fun.”

Loki had one of those terrible wonderful plotting looks on his face, “Oh, I have so much to DO before then…”

“The White Queen signed off with ‘hugs’?” Bobby asked.

“No, that’s just one of her nicknames for me,” Tony grinned, “hugs, excessive touching, and meatball, why?”

“and you two are honestly going to be joining the Hellfire Club?”

Tony just looked at him, “Warren and I have both been members for ages– legacy members, our fathers were members– but we’ve been asked to join the Inner Circle.”

“Has it occurred to EITHER of you that there’s a lot to settle, yet?” Clint sighed, “you might need to put this off a bit–”.

“Yes, there is, My Hawk,” Loki said pleasantly, “and the resources of the Hellfire club have already proven to be useful against Hydra. How much more so when Anthony and I have access to more of their capabilities?”

Warren winced, “Can we go back to when I honestly didn’t know that the Inner Circle meant the White Queen and the Black King and all that?”

Darcy suddenly whistled sharply.

“Right! So… stop whining and let’s think tactically. We still have Hydra scattered through S.H.I.E.L.D. and the longer they have to figure out something’s wrong the more likely they are to hide, and get harder to root out, right?”

“True.”

So the priority has to be on finding, and eliminating Hydra.” Darcy nodded. “There are apparently people who can actually–no fooling– brainwash people into joining Hydra.  I gotta assume that’s time consuming and expensive or they’d be doing it to everyone, but THAT means you can’t always trust people who you should be able to trust… so that’s GOTTA be the top priority before they can go hide.”

Loki frowned, “That… is correct.  Much like the scepter, it is too dangerous to be a lesser priority.” He nodded formally at Darcy.

“And for the same reasons.” Clint said tiredly. “Right, Darcy, we HAVE to deal with that as a priority.”

Natasha spoke up from her statue impersonation, “We want the people behind it alive if at all possible; they may be the only ones who know who’s already been affected.”

Tony glanced down at his Padd. “Well, I have the last known address, and the one before that that got destroyed, as well as the names and descriptions of the top level people.”

Loki looked over at Clint. “I believe you would be best suited to handle this.”

“Why?” Clint didn’t sound adverse to the idea, just curious.

“You would understand and sympathize with those who might be affected, but you also understand that stopping it takes priority.” Loki shrugged.

Clint glanced over at Coulson, “Can you handle coordinating and communications, Sir?”

Coulson just grinned, “Why am I always in the van?” 

Clint grinned back, “Because lying out in the rain waiting for the go order would mess up your suit??”

They both laughed and Tony had a flash of envy at the kind of history and friendship they had.  Loki brushed across his mind sympathetically.

“Nat?”

“Naturally.”

“I should go.” Bruce said suddenly.

That took everyone by surprise. Tony was about to ask but Clint beat him to it, “No objections, but why?”

“Any attempt to tamper with my mind that doesn’t involve glowing artifacts is likely to just piss me off,” Bruce raised an eyebrow, “Even the glowing artifacts mostly pissed me off.”

“Good point, Bruce.” Tony nodded, “and you have the bio-medical knowledge to do the scene evaluation.”

“So is Tony going?” Warren asked a bit dubiously.

Loki sighed, “Even if the two of us wanted to go, we are still recovering from mind effects and it would be inadvisable.”

Toy shrugged. “I think you X-folks have to go back and report  about Hydra, and the scepter– you have permission for that– anything about  what Fluffy said needs to wait on Fluffy…”

“I’d like to help with the brainwashing lab, if I could,” Remy looked at Tony for permission.

“I got no problem with it, but its Clint’s call– he’s team leader.”

Clint looked thoughtful, “I need to go over your skills and capabilities, but I don’t have a problem with it in theory. Why do you want in?”

“I don’t like the idea that they could be turning people’s heads around like dat.”He tossed a card in the air and it glowed and flickered as he caught it, “I’m good at stealth; they might expect you folks, but they shouldn’t expect me; and if I got this right,” he nodded at Bruce, “as far as powers go you go right from zero to really loud.”  

Bruce nodded, “Sadly, yes.”

“My abilities lend themselves to a good bit in between.”

Clint nodded. “The three of us,” he indicated Coulson and Natasha, “work together all the time.  I haven’t worked with Bruce in the field, and I’ve never worked with you, we might want to do a bit of practice and light sparring just to be sure we have some idea what everyone’s likely to do.” He looked at Bruce, “are you at all combat capable?” he grinned, “when you’re not green, I mean.”

Bruce looked over at Tony as though he was concerned, “A bit…”

Tony sighed– _Bruce was so worried about people liking him_ – “Bruce isn’t in your class Clint, but he can handle himself,” he glanced at the startled look on Bruce’s face, “it’s just not a great idea to put him in combat because if he takes a hit…”

“Hmm, point. But i would still like to at least have you checked out on the range?”

“I haven’t handled a gun in a long time…” Bruce sighed, “and I really despise firing them. I do have some hand to hand training, although more of it is based in evasion and things like Judo…”

Luckily at that point food started arriving, and most folks settled down to eat


	70. Mayhem is good...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> plans conclude, evil plots are hatched, people split up, and important questions are finally asked

“I believe they are on their way up, Sir.” Jarvis said calmly.

“Oh? So it went well?” Tony looked up.

“Given Miss Morgan and Miss Lewis’ respective abilities to get some of the more difficult members of the team to eat and take care of themselves, I have suggested hiring them both.”

A few of the team shot amused looks at each other and Darcy started giggling. “That’s half of what I do for Jane; keep her fed and in coffee.”

Loki quietly put his hand on Tony’s neck– not doing anything just being there.

Tony was expecting any number of entrances but Fluffy towing in Jamie, who was snickering and hauling in a vaguely embarrassed looking Steve, wasn’t one of them.

“Ice cream and strawberries!”

“Uh… we don’t keep strawberries in stock, Pepper’s allergic…” Tony said from the couch.

Jamie looked over at Tony and froze.

“Okay, that’s sad… chocolate? Sprinkles? Whipped cream?” she paused and looked back at Jamie, “No sulking!”

“I wasn’t–” she glared at him. “Sorry ma’am.”

It was next to impossible to hold Jamie accountable for cold blooded murder when he was shuffling his feet and looking sheepish.

“You…do look like the pictures of Bucky Barnes, now that I know what to look for.” Coulson said quietly.

Jamie looked uncomfortable and Steve took a deep breath and said, “He’s using Jamie right now, from James Buchanan Barnes.” Steve and Jamie hadn’t let go of each other’s hands, Tony noticed.

“So… Ice cream.” Fluffy said firmly.

“Uh, Fluffy?” Warren  spoke up, “Some of my teammates wanted to know if they could tell Professor Xavier about Magneto.”

“Doesn’t he know about him already?” she said in a puzzled tone as she handed off a bowl of ice cream to Jamie.

Tony watched in some amusement as Jamie apparently realized he would need to let go of Steve to eat. Steve seemed equally perplexed when she handed HIM a bowl. 

“I mean that you’ve seen him, recently, or have some idea where he might be.”

“I don’t know where he is, I have his email.” She said and then pushed Steve and Jamie down into  two chairs. “Jeez, hook ankles or something; you act like two girls in grade school.”  They both looked embarrassed and let go of each other, Steve blushing and Jamie shaking his head with a wry grin. _Damn, those two out on the prowl together?_

“You… have Magneto’s email?” Coulson sounded strangled.

“One of them? An email? Why?”

“A lot of people have been concerned about him.”

She shrugged, “he’s okay, just touchy and he didn’t understand economics.”

“What?”

At that point the elevator doors opened and a rather bedraggled looking –for Pepper– Pepper stepped in, followed by Carol– and it was Carol, she looked too tired to be Miss Vivienne.

 _Agreed_ , Loki thought on the link.

“Hey, Pep… we have ice cream?” Tony spoke up, “Also the new Avengers tag line is, ‘it’s complicated’.”

“Oh?” she had her CEO smile firmly in place.

Tony got up and steered her over to a soft chair; Bruce brought them both bowls of ice cream.

“Woah, you look like retail during Christmas!”

“That bad?” muttered Carol.

“Not how I’d put it, but yes,” Natasha nodded.

Clint looked around, Tony just had time to notice that he had a vaguely sad or resigned look and then he straightened up and _DAMN there was that command presence again_ , “Right. No one’s accomplishing anything like this: we’re all too tired and too stressed. Remy needs a guest room if he’s going to be working with the team here, the X-men heading home need to find out what they can tell this Professor, and Fluffy, Jamie, and Steve need to be brought up to speed.”

“On what?” Fluffy asked, licking her ice cream spoon in a way that looked way more like messy kid than sexy.

Tony grinned, “Emma got the current location of the Hydra brainwashing lab– among other things– and Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Remy are going to go smash stuff,” Tony put on his best deadpan “Coulson stays in the van.”

Fluffy cackled immediately, as expected Steve and Jamie looked blank at the reference.

Steve started to ask if they needed help and Jaimie immediately said, “You need to get back to Director Fury.”

That got everyone’s attention.

“Why?” Coulson asked.

“Director Fury was my primary target. The removal of a number of the high level Hydra operatives will have slowed things down, but he is STILL likely to be targeted by the remaining agents.”

Fluffy tilted her head thoughtfully, “Long-coat sexy with chocolate sauce?”

Tony choked, and he wasn’t the only one.

When Coulson finally finished wiping soda off his tie he said, “Not how any of us would describe him– what about him?”

“You can’t go there because you’re still dead, right?”

“Right.”

“How about Steve, me, and Jamie?”

“…what?” Coulson sounded like he couldn’t quite believe it– Tony was having trouble with the idea himself.

“Steve they expect, right?  Most of the other Hydra agents wouldn’t recognize Jamie– and if they do they might give themselves away– so they won’t be expecting another super soldier, and I LOOK harmless.”

Several people were protesting and Tony was trying to find a politic way of laughing her out of the room, when Natasha nodded slowly, “That might work.”

“It MIGHT?!” Tony stared at her.

“When she first showed up with Miss Frost she looked like a young businesswoman– we’ve just gotten used to seeing her in casual wear– she’s observant, and lethal, and as she said; she LOOKS harmless.”

Tony twisted around to look up at Loki. “Maleficent? You have the devious underhanded political assassination knowledge, what’s your take?”

He was looking at her in a speculative fashion. “Agreed, it might work. I am uncertain of what her cover story should be, however.”

Natasha immediately put forward “Rookie S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, someone who’s been on the coffee and paperwork intern level and got pulled in because of all the staffing issues.” She glanced at Jamie, “And you two were based at the same base.” She smirked, “and are trying to convince everyone you HAVEN’T been having a relationship.”

Clint nodded slowly, “Have Maria publicly bitching about it?”

Natasha nodded with a gleam in her eye, “and talking about how pulling the secretarial staff up into agent status reflects badly on the real agents.”

“Sounds like fun!” Fluffy said with a grin.

Clint nodded, “Hang on; I’ll get it started with Maria.”

“What do I need?”

“A military styled business outfit, pants, by preference,” Natasha said looking her over, “We’ll be pulling you in with barely time to pack so they’ll have to outfit you with a new S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, but the front desk folks at the covert stations never wear them so that’s alright.”

“Wouldn’t Buck-Jamie have one?” Steve asked.

“Preferably, but–”

“Got one.” Jamie said calmly, “I’m the same size as some of the guards at the lab.  The Hellfire Club will have kept the uniforms.”

Pepper very tiredly asked, “Do I need to know?”

“Not immediately?” Tony looked over and realized that Carol had fallen asleep sitting up. “Woah, uh… Pep?  How about if we put you two back in your tower rooms, because…”

“Oh…” she looked envious over at Carol, “sleep– what a nice idea.”

Loki very gently said, “Allow me?” and green lights washed over both of them and they were gone.

Coulson raised an eyebrow, “I trust you put them in their rooms, and didn’t just disintegrate them.”

Loki put on an offended look but Tony could feel the amusement on the link, “As if I would disintegrate Carol… she would certainly wish to die in a more entertaining and artistic fashion than that!”

Bruce chuckled, “I don’t know, I think ANY of us that have gone for our PhDs half expected to be murdered in our sleep… for hogging a computer if nothing else.”

Darcy laughed– so did Hank.

“Honestly I expected to sleep walk off a cliff, or possibly be ripped apart by outraged students when I didn’t get the papers graded in time.” Hank laughed.

Darcy snorted, “Amateurs! I almost got sucked into a spatio-temporal rift!”

Clint looked up from his texting, “That’s true, that and being close to ground zero for the whole Thor mess.”

She waved her hand, “We had more trouble with S.H.I.E.L.D. than Thor, but none of that was the wormhole effects we were watching open up. I admit the whole, ‘whadya mean he has super powers’ and giant robots and flying hammers thing was a bit weird, but once I made friends with Miu-Miu it wasn’t a problem.”

“Mew Mew?” Fluffy asked.

“The hammer… Miu Miu.”

Loki started choking on his drink.  Tony jumped up and started trying to wipe god spit and tea off his neck, “Gah!”

“Mew Mew?!” Loki almost howled, “You call one of the greatest artifacts of Asgard MEW MEW?!”

“I can’t pronounce her proper name, but she’s cool with Mew Mew.”

Loki just kept sputtering.

“Right!” Tony interjected, “Fluffy and Jamie need to go get clothes, and  come back, Other people need to go home, a few people need to go get rooms and spar or something–”

“YAY!” Fluffy grabbed Jamie’s wrist and ran off toward the elevator, or tried to– Jamie was just walking and Fluffy was sort of running in place attached to his wrist. “Mayhem! I love mayhem!”

The X-men, minus Remy, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and packed up and left.

Loki was STILL sputtering when they were all gone, and Natasha  spoke up,“So, there’s a very important question that I wanted to ask about ‘Mew Mew’…”

“Mew Mew! Norns, what a name to call it!”

Darcy looked over dubiously, “what, I just can’t say ‘Meyowl’- whatever.”

“Yes, it’s the other part I had a question about.”

“What other part?”

“SHE??”

 


	71. closing time... or bedtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we send people home, and apologize,  
> and start to pick up the pieces.

“She… yeah.” Darcy looked puzzled.

“Aren’t things like hammers usually male?” Natasha asked cautiously. “If anything?”

Darcy shrugged, “Do I criticize your gender pronouns?”

Anthony mostly sat there and blinked a lot at that.

Barton rubbed his forehead, “Right, the Hammer is ‘she’ and doesn’t mind being called ‘Mew-Mew’. Right.”

Darcy waved a spoon. “She doesn’t mine ME calling her Mew-Mew; I have no idea if that’s a general thing. You should ask, or just use her full name if you can say it.”

Loki, with effort, changed the subject. “We need to talk about what happened, and… now that the other people have left…”

Coulson sighed, “Better now than never. So what happened?”

“As Anthony said, I… thought I could shield myself form the scepter–gain the benefits of it without falling prey to its power.” Loki winced. “As we all know, I was in error.”

“You can’t, Lokes…” Anthony sighed and wrapped an arm around him. “And honestly, I think it was whispering in your head to try to convince you that it was even possible.”

“At this point I must concede that.”

“So… how likely is this to happen again?” Barton looked at him flatly. “Because I will shoot you before I risk any repeat of this nightmare.”

“I was… I was not being affected by it while it was on the planet before… It was only after I began a more active magical contact–keeping it under active surveillance–that I began thinking about it…” Loki considered. “I was also spending a great deal of time HERE… and while the rift residue helps shield me from Heimdall, it is actively helpful to the scepter…”

Anthony nodded, “You weren’t in your sanctum–the place you had… uh… magical EMF shielding set up.”

Doctor Banner considered, “So… moving your sanctum–or setting up similar shielding here–would that help?”

“Yes, and it was… on my agenda, as you say.” Loki tilted his head back, trying to stave off the headache. “Again, I was foolish, and I risked all of us–including myself, obviously–and the fact that it was unintentional does not undo the damage. I can only state that it did NOT happen just from having the scepter on the world, only… from keeping an eye on it while without my wards.” He reached out without looking and Anthony took his hand. “Luckily elskan mín saw my folly in time to prevent more harm.”

“Like I said: I understood the impulse: turn their weapon against them. It’s just…”

“Not gonna happen,” Barton said firmly. “If that thing ever shows up on this planet again, we pitch it into the sun or take it to Mount Doom, or whatever the approved method of destruction is–clear?”

“Very clear, My Hawk.”

“Crystal,” nodded Anthony, “and agreed. I’m pretty sure we can melt it with an Arc reactor though; no need to get fancy.”

“Is it likely to get back to us?” Natasha asked, always the practical one.

“No.” Loki sighed. “But likely my… Odin will very likely send agents to drag me off… I am an escapee.”

“Not out of my house, they don’t.” Anthony snorted.

“If they send any serious agents, Anthony, you will step aside and let them–as long as you are safe I can probably escape again, but if you were injured? Or captured? No.”

Coulson cleared his throat. “Are they likely to send anyone? I mean, they must have known you were on Earth before.”

“It depends on the political situation back on Asgard.” Loki shrugged. “My mother will argue for leaving me be… I think.” He considered. “Part of it depends on how quiet Odin has kept my escape, and how quiet he can keep it now.”

Darcy rapped her spoon against her empty ice cream bowl, and Loki glanced over. “Okay, so… everyone is agreed that”–she started ticking off items on her fingers–“the scepter is bad news, and we want Asgard to keep it; Odin is a dick, but he’s the current ruler and politics is what it is.” Loki had to laugh at that one: so did most of the others, and even Natasha smirked. “You got suckered, and Tony managed to save that one, but you are NEVER going to go near that thing again; and you’ll tell Clint if you get tempted.”

Loki kept his eyes open enough to catch Barton’s look and nodded, “Indeed, I shall.”

“And Tony is going to find someone he can trust to double check his crazy ideas against BEFORE springing them on everyone in combat.” Darcy was pointing a spoon at Anthony.

“Errr… I just didn’t want Loki to find out, so I couldn’t remember when he was around…”

“So? When he wasn’t around, you couldn’t have taken Bruce aside? No one is going to pry anything out of HIM.”

“Errr… oh… yeah… um… Didn’t think of that one. Sorry?”

“And?” Darcy asked impatiently.

“And what?”

“And you promise to talk to someone before you pull something like this? Like Bruce, or Clint, or me, or someone?!”

“OH! Yes,” Anthony was nodding enough to be felt through their joined hands, “absolutely. Now, I need to take Loki into the bedroom and turn off all the lights because the bleed through of his migraine is killing me.”

Loki managed to murmur his apologies before he was taken into the bedroom and permitted himself to sleep.

~

Tony came out after he was sure Loki was alright.

“Sorry, but he needed the sleep and was forcing himself up…”

Clint’s posture had softened some. “He did that all the time: forced himself to keep going until he dropped; I… had to make sure he ate…”

“You said that,” Tony nodded. “Look, seriously, I should have told someone, but… honestly, I wasn’t sure. If I was wrong? I felt like… I would be telling you not to trust him.”

Natasha looked at him and nodded slowly, “You thought YOU would do it, but you couldn’t be certain if HE would.”

Tony nodded and got himself a bottle of some weird fruit juice that seemed to have appeared in his former booze fridge. “So… Emma put in the blocks for me… and… when he wasn’t here I was so busy working…” He took a swig from the bottle; surprisingly, it wasn’t bad, even if it was an odd taste. “And that, on top of everything else… I’m sorry, I just… never thought about telling anyone.”

Clint sighed, “You two… both of you… are totally used to the ‘do it all myself and never ask for help’ system.”

“It… It’s worked, Clint. That’s the thing you have to understand.” Tony looked around and tried to catch everyone’s eyes. “We’ve both been betrayed, repeatedly. Sometimes it was little shit, like people not taking enough care over things that you trusted them with, and sometimes it was… well, like me having my damn near foster dad LITERALLY rip my heart out and leave me to die.”

Darcy mouthed a “What?” at Clint and got a silent “Later” back.

“After shit like that happens a few times…” Tony dearly wished this shit was alcohol, but it wasn’t; he finished it and tossed the bottle into the trash. “Two points, he scores! Anyway, after that happens a few times? No, it doesn’t occur to either of us to ask for help. It took… I only asked Snowflake for help because only she could do what I needed… otherwise? I wouldn’t have asked her.”

Clint and Natasha were doing the eyebrow thing again; Tony decided to wait them out.

Coulson cleared his throat. “I… do need to apologize again for the TASER. I’m used to handling S.H.I.E.L.D.-level problems, where a TASER IS the least damaging option…”

Tony snorted. “And if any of you S.H.I.E.L.D. bastards had followed Aunt Peggy’s policies and TALKED to me, actually… you know… explanations? Not just orders?”

Coulson looked a bit embarrassed–for Coulson. “The habits of authoritarianism do seem to be… endemic, yes.”

Clint spoke up suddenly–they must have finished their semaphore meeting–“Right, well… We need to prep everything with Commander Hill and Remy needs a room…”

Tony startled–Remy had been so quiet he had honestly forgotten about him. The man looked up from the couch. “This is a comfortable couch–I could stay here if it’s trouble…”

“Got lots of space and it’s my building.” Tony shrugged. “Should have fixed you up first, sorry.”

“Darce? Can you help Jarvis get him settled in?”

“Hmmm… Can I help the gorgeous Cajun guy get settled in… Hmmm…”

Clint laughed, “You’re both supposedly grown-ups, just… “ He glanced at Remy and shrugged. “Your call, Darcy.”

“I do know how to be a gentleman,” Remy said with a faint bow and a flourish. “If de lady would do me the honor of showing me to my rooms?”

Darcy put everything down and walked over. “Nothing but talk on a first date…” She took his arm. “So… tell me about the long coat?”

They walked out with Remy spinning what Tony was fairly certain was a tall-tale about how he got his coat.

“You have competition for the blend into the walls there, agent,” Tony nodded after them.

“I’ll have to up my game,” Coulson agreed easily. “In the meantime, I’ll put together a briefing for Fluffy about what a junior desk agent would be expected to know.”

Natasha took Clint’s arm. “A good body massage and bed for you.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at Clint. “And there’s nothing between…?”

“Nope,” Clint shook his head. “Just a massage and MAYBE a nap…”

“Definitely a nap,” Natasha said, mock-cuffing him gently and then ruffling his hair. He leaned in to Natasha affectionately and they left.

Bruce chuckled, “Just the Science Bros again, hmm?”

“Wait, where did Coulson go?”

“Out the stairs?”

“I’m beginning to think they train on that…” Tony looked around carefully: no Coulson. “Like the Batman: vanish as soon as you take your eyes off him…”

Bruce chuckled, “You’re just tired and easily distracted.”

“That was in my grade school report card!” Tony joked at him in a pleased fashion.

“I believe you,” Bruce nodded solemnly. “Go get some rest. Once Fluffy is back, the S.H.I.E.L.D. folks will be busy, but I’ll wake you up if they need you.”

Tony lay down next to Loki “just for a minute”.

_Zzzzzzz…_

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Birds of a Feather](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8651137) by [fabricdragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon), [FluffyIsACatGirl (fabricdragon)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/FluffyIsACatGirl)
  * [An Iron in the Fire](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8662660) by [FluffyIsACatGirl (fabricdragon)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/FluffyIsACatGirl)
  * [Captain America’s New Uniform (by Fluffy)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8671528) by [FluffyIsACatGirl (fabricdragon)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/FluffyIsACatGirl)




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